Seminole Scribe Vol. 23 No. 1 by The Seminole Scribe

The Seminole Scribe

Vol. 23 No. 1

Seminole State College of Florida

February 16-29, 2012

Seminole State Supports Sweatshops

THE SEMINOLE SCRIBE

EDITOR Zachary Ely STAFF REPORTERS Stephanie Alvarez Joshua Glener Justin Goodman Yngrid Lindores Jarred Paluzzi Ambar Wessin

Photo by Joshua Glener

The Seminole Scribe is the student newspaper of Seminole State College of Florida

Faculty Adviser Jennifer Sheppard

ake a look at the tag on your shirt. Chances are it reads something like ‘Made In China’, or Mexico, or Ecuador, or Indonesia. The clothing in the Seminole State College bookstore is no different. Selling clothes produced in India, Honduras, Colombia, Egypt and elsewhere, the school is supporting

EDITORIAL POLICY Viewpoints expressed in

columns and letters to the editor are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Seminole Scribe or Seminole State College. Letters or columns can be emailed or dropped off at the office. Please limit letters to 500 words, and include phone number, name and area of study or affiliation. Letters will not be printed anonymously. We reserve the right to reject letters.

sweatshops. The drive to reduce costs has lead to massive outsourcing and most clothing is produced outside the United States; ABC News reports that 98 percent of all clothing purchased in the United States is produced externally. Save for American Apparel it’s difficult to even think of any other industry within the United

States. Alta Gracia, located in the Dominican Republic, is an organization that respects labor rights and pays a living wage. Owned by Knights Apparel, a collegiate apparel company that outsells Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and Russel on hundreds of university and college campuses across the country, the

by Justin Goodman

Alta Gracia factory opened after a rival company, BJ&B, closed its doors. The employees first attempt at unionization was met with hostility leaving over 30 thousand unemployed; Nike and Reebok canceled their orders to move to lower wage facilities. Student organizations like United Students Against Sweatshops, convinced Knights Apparel that they could provide their workers with appropriate conditions and wages, and still make a profit. Though they’re up against a monolithic system of manufacturing that subsists on the slavelabor of outsourcing, Knights Apparel has demonstrated its model to be successful. The Nation magazine reports the Alta Gracia facility is well ventilated, has adequate lighting and comfortable seating, it is fully unionized with Continued on page 2

MISSION STATEMENT We are a student-run newspaper that aims to construct a publication of professionalism. Through each individual staffer’s utmost potential, we write for the interest of the school and its student body to deliver a quality news and entertainment source that uphold traditional journalistic values.

©2012 The Seminole Scribe. All rights reserved. All content is property of The Seminole Scribe and may not be reproduced or transmitted without consent. The Scribe is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press, Florida Community College Press Association and College Media Advisers Inc.

Photo by Zachary Ely

PUBLIC FORUM

The Seminole Scribe is a “designated public forum.” Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.

Rumors ignite around Big Tree fire by Zachary Ely

t a local park, visitors arrive to a locked gate on a recent morning after a January fire destroyed a 3,500-year-old Cypress tree. The Senator, the largest Pond Cypress tree in the U.S. and fifth oldest tree in the world, caught fire and burned to the ground, causing a wide range of speculation.

These rumors, ranging from a lightning strike, arson and spontaneous combustion, have started an investigation by local and several federal agencies. “This was the Champion Cypress tree,” Garth Schweizer, a North Carolina and Florida State Certified Landscape Architect said at the park paying his respects to the tree.

Authorities are investigating rumors that the tree was equipped with communications equipment, along with a new lightning rod that was installed in the last several years. The main arborist involved with the Senator, who declined to be interviewed, but said he has climbed the 125-foot tall “at least 40 times,” adored the tree and helped to install the new lightning rod and electronics. He is also involved in the investigation. Continued on page 2

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The Seminole Scribe An area attraction for decades, the Senator, a 165-ft. tall until a hurricane tore the top off in 1925 and it was used by the native Indians as a landmark. “It was the place to go until the homeless and perverts started coming,” Terry Price, a United States Federal Marshal, said. “They seem to be attracted to nature parks (and) have even set up small cameras for sting operations and have arrested many but the judge only gives them a slap on the wrist.” The loss of the Senator will shift focus of Big Tree Park to the Senator’s sister tree, the Lady

democratically elected leaders, the union sponsors labor rights and HIV workshops, and the employees are paid close to three times the country’s minimum wage. Knights Apparel works directly with the Workers Rights Consortium, an association of 186 universities, to maintain standards. The University of Central Florida as well as the University of Florida both already carry Alta Gracia products. See for yourself. Look at the clothing labels in the school bookstore. Look at your own. Most of us are supporting sweatshops without even knowing it. Students can put an end to this now. Students just have to demand it. Universities like Duke have even adopted an antisweatshop code of conduct. Shouldn’t Seminole State College do the same?. Purchasing Director for the college, Greg Long, acknowledges that many of these companies produce apparel outside the United States and sustain themselves on “wages that are low, and conditions that are extremely bad.” Seminole State’s Kendra Kakoska said that the bookstore used to be operated by the college, but now is managed by the Follet corporation, and that though the school receives a commission from sales of apparel, the contracts themselves are made by Follet. Follet maintains a “Vendor Labor Code of Conduct” that “ensure[s] that no child or sweatshop labor is used to make products sold in our stores.” Outsourcing has lead to serious worker’s rights abuses, and despite Follet’s “Vendor Labor Code of Conduct,” virtually all of the companies with which Follet engages contracts on the Seminole State College Campus have histories of labor and environmental law violations, including Champion, Hanes, MV Sport, Jansport, Cutter & Buck and College Kids. As recently as December of last year the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights reported that College

February 16, 2012

Liberty while authorities continue to investigate the removal of any electronics, fire hazards.

Kids sourced products from the Apple Tree facility in El Salvador where “Union members are often denied paid overtime work and are routinely harassed by security guards,” where “Workers report they are drenched in their own sweat” due to the extreme heat, where they don’t have access to clean drinking water or working toilets, where employees are “denied” access to medical facilities, and where they are “forced” to work overtime. The College Kids apparel offered in Seminole State College’s Sanford/ Lake Mary campus bookstore is produced in El Salvador. Long stated that the facilities Follet contracts with “may not necessarily be places that take care of their own.” Since foreign countries have different standards regarding working conditions and child labor laws, American companies can employ children, suppress wages, deny unionization, extract local resources, impoverish communities, degrade environments, and physically abuse workers while avoiding public scrutiny. Coca-Cola has long been accused of actually murdering union organizers, and other members, in Colombia, by employing paramilitary groups, reports the John F. Henning Center for International Labor Relations at the University of California, Berkeley. Nearly four thousand have been killed over the last 25 years. Walmart, Disney, Target, Kohl’s, L.L. Bean, and Victoria’s Secret are just a few who profit off of the neo-slavery of outsourcing, according to Mother Jones and Project Censored. With NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, signed by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the US eviscerated the seventeenth amendment of the Mexican Constitution, which granted land rights to the indigenous. It is the main thrust behind illegal immigration as it forces people into poverty by allowing corporations to monopolize industries and crush

Meanwhile, federal legislation could ban the use of large trees as a communications tower. “This tree has been here for 3,500 years,” he said, “and it just refitted with a new lightning rod a few years ago.” As a result, Mr. Schweizer said, spontaneous combustion could not have occurred. Seminole State student Brian Schwartz said, “It sounds to me that the tree probably caught fire from the lightning and communications equipment itself.”

the competition the free-market claims to uphold. The US lost well over a million jobs due to this legislation, with Mexico losing far more. The American trade deficit with Mexico increased to over $100 billion dollars. The Economic Policy Institute predicts that Obama’s South Korea Free Trade Agreement will cost the United States 159,000 jobs over the next seven years. In 2006 the National Labor Committee derided the Jordan Free Trade Agreement as ‘descending into human trafficking and involuntary servitude’ as reported by Project Censored. This has a cyclical effect of depressing wages, reducing spending, and increasing unemployment, poverty, and all the social pathology that comes with it. It affects all of us. “[These] trade agreements override the rights of workers, consumers, and the future generations who cannot “vote” in the market on environmental issues,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, Noam Chomsky. “One consequence of the globalization of the economy is the rise of new governing institutions to serve the interests of private transnational economic power. Another is the spread of the Third World social model, with islands of enormous privilege in a sea of misery and despair,” he said. Neoliberal, slave-labor globalization can be combated. Students can start by demanding that their own schools, including Seminole State College, stops engaging contracts that procure clothes from companies who produce in sweatshops, who don’t respect unions, who don’t pay living wages, who abuse their workers. Alta Gracia opened its doors in 2010 and has been selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise at individual campuses. The success of Alta Gracia includes Occidental College in LA selling out its first order in just a few weeks, and Duke University Photo by Joshua Glener

selling over $430 thousand dollars worth of merchandise since August 2010. Alta Gracia is so successful because their products are competitively priced, charging approximately the same as premium sports brands, and students are passionate about supporting them.

Who to contact:

1. SSC P

urchasing

Director

Greg Long (407)708.2174 longg@seminolestate.edu

2. SSC P

resident

Dr. Ann McGee (407)708.2009 mcgeea@seminolestate.edu

3. SSC B

ookstore

(407) 708.2021 seminolestatesanford@bkstr.com

“I think there is something amazing knowing firsthand where your clothes are coming from,” and that “It’s a rare and special case where the people producing and the people consuming are in direct relationship in such a positive way,” Will Delphia, a Hampshire College student in Massachusetts, said. Elba Nuris, an Alta Gracia employee, said that she is now able to send her daughter to school, doesn’t have to fear not being able to provide her family food, and that she has “hope for a better future.” “Every purchase of Alta Gracia means that we will be able to make our dreams come true,” she said. By supporting Alta Gracia and Knights Apparel, students also support weKAre, a charity organization that helps provide a home for abused children and orphans, which helps make dreams of a world free of sweatshops come true.

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Is Genetically Modified Food Safe?

ome call them Frankenfoods, evil Monsanto seedlings or even science’s gift. Despite the uproar caused by genetically modified foods, a lot of research is unable to dispel or confirm the health risks of genetically modified foods, or GMOs - foods that have had foreign genes from other plants or animals inserted into their genetic codes. Critics say GMO foods can cause weight gain, food allergies and cancer. According to the Center for Food Safety, more than 70 percent of processed foods on supermarket shelves contain genetically engineered ingredients. While labeling

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is required in most other industrialized countries, America does not mandate labeling on genetically modified foods, according to the Institute for Responsible Technologies, and the government has not monitored whether or not long term side effects occur from eating unnatural creations. “It’s weird to me how we are so ahead with technology but we don’t even know what is truly in our foods,” Rosa Lindores, a nurse at Florida Hospital, said. “I’m tired of the ‘might be doings.’ I want to know for certain what these foods are doing.” Some experts believe more research should be done to

determine whether a food is safe or not. “I would like to see more research,” Seminole State sociology professor Kerri Smith, said. “This should be open to research, like anything else that’s produced that the FDA then investigates to make sure that it’s safe. Maybe it’s not harmful I don’t know there is not enough research.” Winter Springs Physical Education Terri Iannuzzi also thinks more research should be done and is unsure whether genetically modified foods are bad for people’s health. “I think the jury is out on that one,” Ms. Iannuzzi said.

By Yngrid Lindores

More research needs to be done to determine the health effects of genetically modified foods. “Healthy food is your lifeline,” Ms. Iannuzzi said. For now it’s best to be informed and aware. Seminole State student Claudia Velez trys to only eat foods she deems healthy. “I’d rather eat foods nature created,” she said. “There is just something wrong about a pig having human growth genes.”

Ctrl Alt Delete on Internet Freedom

ne month ago Americans experienced what a censored Internet would be like, with media sites like Wikipedia blacking out their web pages and restricting content. The largest online protest in United States history culminated in a blackout of well-tracked sites going dark including: Wikipedia’s English registered web pages,

Reddit and Craigslist. Search engines like Google censored out its logo to raise awareness of S.O.P.A and P.I.P.A., two bills tightening online intellectual property rights. Both bills boil down to stopping copyrighted material from being pirated by various sites. Governmental regulation would remove those sites domain names,

By Joshua Glener

making those sites unable to found through a web browser. Some technical back door and shortcuts are available to allow access, but only if a person has sufficient skills in computer networking. These sites would be censored without the consent of their owners, removing content before it is proven to be copyright infringement. The Companies who want Continued on page 5

Have The King At Your Door

rdering pizza and wings delivered is just a phone call away and now choices have expanded, thanks to Burger King’s new delivery system, tasty burger can be delivered with just the click of a button.

Corporation said that the company was not granting interviews to the media at this time. The company will be testing their new delivery methods at a limited number of stores located in Washington, D.C. and hopefully by Jan. 23, 2012 they will have

Jonathan Fitzpatrick, chief brand and operations officer for Burger King Corporation said Americans are trying to find the fastest and most convenient ways to eat without interrupting their workday. “We thought the time was right to test this firstof-its kind program in a U.S. market.”

expanded this experiment to 16 more stores in which the locations were not given. The starting fee of delivery will cost $2 with a minimum of $10 spent from the menu. The menu is limited to the customers including the Burger King favorite, the Whopper. Although fountain drinks, shakes, coffee, and breakfast items are not included they will have bottled soda and water available. So when you’re craving a Whopper Burger. You can now call or order online at www.bkdelivers.com. Alberto Gonzalez a student a Seminole State College said “Hopefully this will open the doors to other restaurants because having the choice to get your meal delivered is way more convenient.”

According to a press statement released by Burger King Corporation, Burger King has had success with this delivery service globally in areas such as Turkey, Mexico, and South American Countries. An employee of the Burger King

By Jarred Paluzzi

Attention: Altamonte, Heathrow and Oviedo campuses

Do you have a story idea? Let us know. Photo by Jacob Rodriguez

Email:

theseminolescribe@gmail.com Let your voice be heard!

to refrain from governmental involvement are given their independence as an incentive to watch their consumers and take action on users who have copyrighted material. Political science and international relations professor Tracy Harbin said privacy vs. piracy is the real problem. “The main concern driving both acts is that it would lead to an invasion of privacy,” she said. “Asking companies to watch what sites their consumers are using could be compared to a warrant-less search.” These warrants-less searches, she said, could create “a potential police state.” “The U.S. government could go on a fishing expedition (data mining) to find out what individuals are consuming on the Internet,” she said in an email message to the Seminole Scribe. The other side of the argument is that “the government has an obligation to protect copyright material.” Online privacy rights remain a hot button issue for Seminole State College students. “I remain concerned about both bills because as a student I need access to information,” Eddie Rodriguez, a SSC student, said. “I cannot have a source just disappear because someone wanted it to be taken down.” At press time, both bills are tabled, waiting for revision but other bills can bring attention to online privacy laws. Last year, President Obama signed the International trade agreement, or ACTA, into law. Under this law, an international issue involving online piracy can be under the jurisdiction of the United States Government. Opposition stays strong for now, keeping the United States internet open and free, but if a compromise pushes both bills concerning online privacy through without hearing the voice of the people, the internet could become stifled and Google search engine results might be a few pages shorter than it used to. In a world where students rely so heavily on obtaining information online, where people can research any topic with no prior knowledge. In the future, students may not be able to find a wiki page again.

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The Seminole Scribe

February 16, 2012

Taking a look beyond the uniform

frustrated server rolled her eyes and exhaled a sigh after she picked up the 25 cents left by a few college students. Danika Bodem, 21, said a gratuity of “at least” 18 to 20 percent should always be included in the customer’s bill after a certain amount.

Tipping the server is not always on everyone’s mind the minute after walking into a restaurant. Because each individual has control of the tip, not everyone chooses to pay a tip at all, let alone an average percentage. “When going out to a restaurant, one is going out for more than the food, they are going out for the service they wouldn’t receive at home.” Amanda Sookram said, spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association. At a minimum wage of $4.29 per hour, some servers say the idea of automatic tipping would set the likelihood of getting a fair wage. “Depending on the state there are different tip credits of the restaurants,” Ms. Sookram said. “The tip credit of the restaurant is what affects the server’s wage.”

For some college students, serving is the only way to afford getting an education. Photo by Stephanie Alvarez “People who don’t care “Don’t come to a restaurant, if about tipping don’t take some you are not willing to leave a good factors into consideration tip to your server!” Ms. Bodem, like the server’s individual student of Oviedo campus, responsibilities,” said Dannah vented recently to co-worker Perez, student of Oviedo campus at the Buffalo Wild Wings in and a local server. “People think Waterford Lakes. just because you are young you don’t have to pay bills nor is it

possible for you to have a three year old son to take care of.” While servers may average from $0 to $100 a shift, after taxes are taken out of both tips and hourly pay, the server is obligated to give a certain percentage to the restaurant for additional services. “Even after our hard work, we don’t make as much as people think” Ms. Bodem said. Studies from Cornell’s Center of Hospitality research show the most prominent reason for tipping to be more of a “guilt” issue than a gratitude issue. Research also shows there are many actions that a server can do to improve their percentage in tips. According to the Center at Cornell, eye contact and closer interaction creates a more intimate connection and makes patrons want to give the server more money. Some servers walk a thin line striving to find a way to pay tuition or next month’s rent, but that is only one of the many struggles a server faces. Long shifts and heavy trays add on to the list. After a hard days work a server’s back, knees and feet are in serious pain. With the body so sore, workers do not look forward

Photo and story by Stephanie Alvarez

to the next shift. Others deal with customers yelling at them about errors made by the kitchen staff. “A lot of times we feel like we are being treated like slaves,” Ms. Bodem said. “Often people don’t even call us by our name. As long as they get what they want, customer’s don’t care that they make us feel worthless and unappreciated.” Of course, these factors don’t always come into mind when paying the tip. Some students like Jordan Anthony from the Sanford campus said for good service he pays nine percent. And John McCall, student at the Sanford campus, said he tips according to the server’s “attitude.” But regardless, servers like Ms. Perez said there is more to waiting on people than it appears. “I think everyone should be a server at least some point in their life,” Ms. Perez said, “to understand what it is to serve people.”

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Student Overcomes Obstacles, Inspires Others

“

The day I moved to the United States was the saddest day in my life,” Claudia Marquez said. She does not regret moving to the United States even though she had to endure sacrifice. First her dad left her behind in Cuba to come to the United States, then she moved with her father, but left behind her mother. Claudia had to face the cultural shock any immigrant student would face when moving to another country. “It is different from Cuba, and more sophisticated,” she said. She was born in La Habana, Cuba in 1992. Her parents, Miriam de la Caridad Berroa Formes and Jose Ricardo Marquez Jarrido, are both responsible for making her both sad and happy. Though the separation was difficult, it was necessary for her to pursue an education. “I’ve been far away from my mom and that has been the hardest part,” she said. She also said that her mom is the person she loves the most. Claudia’s father left her in Cuba when she was only five years old, so that he could come to the U.S. to give her a better life. He wasn’t able to see his only child for four years. “You miss a lot in four years and after time goes by it is a whole different story,” he said.

Story and photo by Ambar Wessin

being separated from her family.

she said.

In October 2006, she made her trip to Florida, leaving her mom in Cuba and reuniting with her father.

Claudia wanted to share her story because many students experience language difficulties, learning difficulties, physical disabilities, lack of transportation, raising children and have to work while getting their education. Claudia said she wants her peers to know they are not alone and wants to inspire people to overcome obstacles and achieve goals.

She started her freshman year in the fall semester of 2006 at Lake Brantley High School, where she graduated. Even though the language was new and difficult, she learned quickly. She feels as though she has adapted to American culture well.

“You never know someone’s life story until you talk to them,” Claudia said.

“In the U.S. you have the chance to go far in life if you really want to and the chance to become who you want to be,” Claudia said. “Coming here meant for me the absence of my mom, but it finally gave to me the privilege of learning a new language, know a new world, have freedom of speech, become someone, have opportunities and meet new friends.”

She is currently attending Seminole State College pursuing her associate’s degree in medical laboratory science. Claudia said that if she has the right attitude to get through college, anyone can.

Her dad said he is proud that she graduated in the year she was supposed to and did not drop out or fail a single class.

“Claudia goes out all the time, but she studies all the time as well,” her aunt Martela Concepsion de las Casas said.

“She passed the FCAT even though English is her second language, which is a hard test even for native speakers,” he said.

Claudia said she is an optimistic person who is not willing to stop her career path because of a language barrier. For her, it matters not from where people come, but the resources used to be successful.

Claudia said that achieving the dream to live in the United States is just half the battle; the other half is studying and getting prepared to achieve goals.

Claudia struggled with the pain of

make a

“There is no way you can get away with success, without pain,” Claudia said. “You just have to see going through college, like going through high school: at some point it seemed hard to graduate but you did.” In the end, she said that she believes her sacrifice has been worth the cost.

“Nothing wrong with getting a GED, but I got my diploma, I’m proud of it because it took effort,”

Difference at Seminole State happen” said Alberto

or many children in the areas of Northern Uganda, the word “peace” is not in their vocabulary. That’s because of the ongoing conflict in Northern Uganda between Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army, a group consisting of an estimated 90 percent of abducted children. According to Invisible Children, the war has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world and has involved over two million innocent civilians. Now, students can make a difference and change history at Seminole State College by joining the new Invisible Children Club and aid in the movement to put an end to Kony’s army. “We are a highly motivated club with passionate people behind working to make it

Gonzalez, team leader for the club at Seminole State College.

By Jarred Paluzzi

State College will be holding an Invisible Children screening and informational meeting on Wed. April 4. “The reason I got involved is because it’s for a cause that too few people know and hear about,” said Patrick Proudfoot, a member of the club. “Getting involved informs people around you and gives us the opportunity to try and stop the abduction of these innocent children.” It’s about time this conflict ends and these children experience the word peace.

With Kony’s child army attacking several civilian villages, the government tried, in 1996, to relocate in hopes to protect the innocent from more attacks. However, this left more than one million people within the camps still struggling to survive For from poverty, disease and starvation. In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and four of his top commanders. Peace talks have been proposed several times, but the army and the government have not reached an agreement. As a result, the club at Seminole

more information, contact Seminole State College’s Invisible

Children President Jessica Blair at Jessi10@live.seminolestate.edu or team leader Alberto Gonzalez at Alberto7@live.seminolestate.edu.