San Jose City College Times, Vol. 75, Issue 1, Jan 29, 2013

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013

The Voice of San Jose City College Since 1956

Students Commit Fraud

Volume 75 Issue 1

Tuition Outpaces Income Growth

ILLUSTRATION BY MARK SHEPPARD/ TIMES STAFF

Aid Recipients get Away with Taxpayer Dollars

BY ALEXANDRA GUGLIELMO

TIMES STAFF

A few commit it. Some know those who have. Others have never even heard of it.

Financial aid fraud steals from San Jose City College and other college campuses nationwide.

“It has gone on before, and I think it will continue,” said Takeo Kubo, director of financial aid at SJCC. “In short, yes, (financial aid fraud) does need to be resolved.”

Some students commit financial aid fraud by reporting false financial information for them-

selves or their families, or by signing up for classes with the intention to drop once they receive their financial aid.

Manuel Garcia, 28, a psychology major, said he overheard a classmate say, “I just got my financial aid, and I won’t be coming back.” The student never returned to Garcia’s class.

“Some students sign up knowing they will drop, not knowing they have to pay back (the financial aid money),” said Felicia Segura, 19, an administration of justice major who works in the Financial Aid office.

However, a loophole enables some tricky students to keep fi-

nancial aid money without the demand for pay-back.

“If (students) have gone through a certain portion of classes without dropping, they are able to keep everything without having to pay anything back,” Kubo said.

Kubo said that the financial aid office does not track how students spend their financial aid money. “(They may) stay here as straight-A students or leave immediately and just run away with the money,” Kubo said.

Financial aid recipients are required to maintain satisfactory academic progress, including maintenance of a 2.0 GPA and completion of 75 percent of at-

tempted classes. SJCC calculates the required academic progress once per year.

“If students sign up for full loads of classes, receive financial aid and then drop all the classes with the thought of ‘I got paid so I’m going to buy myself something or take a vacation,’ they might be able to do that for a semester or two, but eventually it will catch up to them because they are not maintaining academic progress,” Kubo said.

FINANCIAL AID FRAUD More on PAGE 5

Reprographics Clicks Campus Printing Shop Continues to Produce Schoolwide Paper Needs

BY STEVE HILL

TIMES STAFF

MARIA LAURA MIRAMON/TIMES STAFF

A San Jose City Policeman enters the City College Times newsroom during a lockdown of the campus on Dec. 18.

SJCC Emergency Preparation Tips for Pos sible D isaster Situations All Santa Clara County students and residents can access free informational services by registering their numbers at alertscc.com.

AlertSCC is a free way to get emergency warnings sent directly to their cell phone, mobile device, email or landline. AlertSCC

can provide information and instructions in a variety of emergencies, such as public safety incidents and crimes that immediately affect the neighborhood.

EARLY SEMESTER TIPS

PAGE 6

CAMPUS POLICE

408-288-3735 8 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.

(call 911 after hours)

When faculty need a print job done in a hurry, Reprographics is there to get it done fast, as they have been for more than 56 years.

“I will ask them, with a very short time frame, to do something heroic, and they come through 100 percent of the time,” chemistry professor Madeline Adamcseski said. “I can’t remember one time when I asked them for something they said no to or they didn’t do it.”

Graphic designer Jeffrey Fasbinder has been with the department for more than 22 years. He said the main function of Reprographics is to produce materials for classroom use, along with some promotional services for the district.

“Reprographics is a district function,” Fasbinder said. “We do all the printing for any of the NEW BOARD OF TRUSTEE MEMBERS

PAGE 3

three entities, San Jose City College, Evergreen Valley College and the district offices.”

Print jobs include classroom materials, fliers, business cards, booklets, posters and newsletters, and the volume of printed materials is between four and five million single-sided pages per year, not including offset print work, which is an ink-transfer printing technique.

There are four people on staff at SJCC and two at EVC, and Reprographics is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

“Each location is open 12 hours a day,” Fasbinder said.

“So you can appreciate that when someone is out sick or on vacation, accommodations have to be made with each occurrence.”

Reprographics also houses the campus scantron machine and

REPROGRAPHICS

More on PAGE 5 MORE CAMPUS STORIES For additonal stories Scan the QR code to the right or visit us at sjcctimes.com

NEXT NEWSPAPER: Feb. 19 EMAIL US: citycollegetimes@jaguars.sjcc.edu CHECK US OUT ONLINE: www.sjcctimes.com

2 Opinion

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013

Rising Costs Affect Value of Education

What Kind of Services on Campus are you not Satisfied With?

Students Forced to Make Investment Decision When you buy a car you take a lot of factors into account. First, you make some rough assessment of the value of the car, by which you make some quasi-calculations in your head about what you think the car is worth, and after you have settled on some number, you weigh the actual cost of the car against the value you’ve given the car.

And if the value is greater than the cost, you conclude it is a reasonable investment.

We do this with every purchase we make. We do it with routine grocery buys.

We do it with household nicnacs. We do it with everything, except with schools.

If we did we might see how outrageously expensive schools are. In 1975, the cost of supporting a student at a UC was, on average, 44 percent of annual income, in the mid-2000s, it cost 82 percent of annual income.

In roughly the last ten years alone, the price of public schools has risen 104 percent. The cost of schools hasn’t just nominally gotten more expensive; the entire dynamic between the how the public views public schools has changed.

Students are seldom viewed as pupils anymore and schools are viewed more as career-building facilities than as educational institutions, classified more as a government expense than a civic imperative, altering the relationship from student-to-school to a more customer-and-store-like relationship; since schools are institutions reliant on public money, therefore subject to public policy, the public’s view of higher education commands the direction of college affordability.

In the 1970s the cost for a UC a year was $3,093, in actual dollars. The big difference between now and then, taxpayers funded a greater percentage of the total cost.

A survey, conducted by the TIME/Carnegie Co., found that 73 percent of college leaders answered “cuts in government spending” when asked what the biggest factor contributing to rising cost of colleges is.

Median household income has been on a steady decline since mid-2007, the

start of the recession, currently $50,054, but in contrast the 2013 sticker price was up 3.8 percent, to a record $22,261, according to college board report.

Meaning students are forced to pay more for schools with less income, on average, because taxpayers’ contribution to colleges has withdrawn, which prices-out the lower-income demographics from higher education, disproportionately affecting those who need a college degree the most.

Research shows that by 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will require post-secondary education, currently 35 percent of the population are projected to have post-secondary degrees.

Multiple factors add to the rising cost of public colleges. Administrative costs have dramatically risen, nationwide, and many administrators have secured big pay increases. A lot of factors add to the total of overall school increase, room, board, etc, still tuition accounted for about half of that increase, forcing consumers to pay more, with less money.

The clumsiest way to assess an investment is by subtracting the cost from the value. A TIME/Carnegie poll showed that 54 percent of the general population believes the importance of college is future-earnings related; with a declining job market, the value of school is also in decline.

With rising tuition prices, an unsusceptible job market, predatory education lending, school-wide budget cuts and starved educational programs, college is looking like a lousy investment.

Tuition at SJCC has steadily increased over the last few years, programs have been steadily cut, transfer opportunities to secondary schools have bottlenecked and the job market has flatlined.

Almost every school has reduced its course offerings.

Almost every school and every program is affected.

Even our local flagship university, SJSU, recently declared “undecided” an impacted major.

The job market is terribly unreceptive to outgoing graduates. The US currently has the highest per capita

percentage of master’s degree recipients that work as waiters.

With tuition rising, community colleges, which are intended to serve as a cost-effective gateway to higher education, are finding themselves unreachable for their base customers: financially disadvantaged students.

Though students are paying a higher premium, the government is still the largest investor, and the government is reducing education spending.

In 1985, state appropriations paid ±35 percent, the state is currently spending ±10 percent on.

To counter this macroscopic shift, colleges have sought aggressive alternatives.

Colleges are refocusing their institutions away from being stepping-stone educational facilities and moving toward high-performing vocations. For-profit private schools, “McSchools” such as University of Phoenix, have thrived while most other higher educational facilities have faced harsh realities.

Community colleges are moving toward for-profit models the door on it being the model of gateway education is closing; focusing on “high-performing” trade programs and moving away from traditional education programs.

This is evident at our own college, SJCC has refocused their budget away from classes like anthropology, and moved it toward departments like cosmetology-seemingly for a very simple reason: cosmetology brings in customers.

This paradigm shift in the culture of education, looking at students as customers, drifts school further from their intended purpose.

The average debt load for college seniors who took loans was $25,250, and if a student chose to pursue a master’s or a doctorate on loans, it is very likely for an individual to accumulate more than $100k in loans.

School debt just surpassed credit card debt as the highest unsecured debt.

To counter all this doom and gloom, students have to be very, very thoughtful in their educational direction.

Room 302 Technology Center • San Jose City College 2100 Moorpark Avenue • San Jose • California 95128 408.298.2181 x3213 • citycollegetimes@jaguars.sjcc.edu The Times was established in 1956 to provide a key forum for campus news, information and opinion for approximately 10,000 students, faculty, staff and administrators each semester.

COMPILED BY MARIA LAURA MIRAMON AND JULIAN CASTILLO / TIMES STAFF

Kimberly Candia Major: Pre-Nursing Age: 25 Financial aid. They don’t return phone calls.

They are rude when you go see them. They are non-responsive and make it seem like you are bothering them.

Steve Corelis Math Instructor Age: 68 Everything I had an opportunity to interact with has been satisfying and adequate for my needs.

Nayoma Gonzalez Major: Undecided Age: 19 Counseling, because I heard people complain about not getting enough time with them and having to wait a long time to see them.

Daniel Valliant Major: Computer Science Age: 38 I am unsatisfied with the quality of the teachers. It seems the teachers are doing their jobs just to get paid.

Kaylah Arbena Major: Communications Age: 21 There is not anything I am disappointed with.

Everyone here is pretty helpful.

Scott Kendall Major: Pre-Nursing Age: 48 Counseling. I have received bad advice. When I tried to join a class, the counselors did not tell me that I needed a prerequisite. I as unable to get in.

Your recent “breaking news” story regarding campus lockdown should be used as example or learning tool of how not to write a breaking news story. Neither the web story nor the Facebook updates contained a quote, yet your photos were clearly on scene and at the news conference that followed. The story and updates were confusing, your staff were close enough to dozens of people (students, cops, admins).

Richard McKay Yes, we should always have quotes. This was our first breaking news story, and we were also victims of the event. The events were very distressing, and we were locked in our classroom for nearly two hours with no access to the outside world. The gunman was rumored to be on our floor. For the initial story we relied on our first person observations, which no other news outlet had. Quotes were obtained once we were outside and are in the follow-up article.

Times Staff

Editor-in-chief: Mark Sheppard Photo Editor: Steve Hill Opinion Editor: Scott Ghinazzi Sports Editor: Patrick Loera News Editor: Gerardo Revuelta Lifestyle Editor: Alejandro Cardiel Faculty Adviser: Farideh Dada

Managing Editor: Linh Nguyen Design Editor: Cordell Kintner Copy Editors: Alexandra Guglielmo, Matt Narlesky A&E Editor: Maria Laura Miramon Ad Manager: Larry Harris Photographers: Andy Nguyen, Julian Castillo Videographer: Merry Le

LETTERS POLICY: The Times, an instructional program in journalism, welcomes comments and opinions of the public in response to signed viewpoints, editorials or reports. Letters to the editor must be typed, include the author’s name and contact information, and may not exceed 200 words. All letters may be edited for length, clarity and libel. Please include a phone number. A signed copy must be delivered to the Times mailbox or newsroom, and an electronic copy emailed to citycollegetimes@jaguars.sjcc.edu

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CITY COLLEGE TIMES

Writers, photographers or artists: Contact the adviser at farideh.dada@sjcc.edu All viewpoints and editorials are the opinions of the Times staff and not of the faculty, staff, administration or of SJECCD.

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013

Campus Life 3

District Elects New Trustees Board Focus on Achieving Financial Stability, Full Accreditation and Students’ Success

BY MARIA LAURA MIRAMON

TIMES STAFF

Three new governing board members were elected as Trustees for areas 1, 3 and 5 to the district governing board, on Nov. 6.

Ballots were cast in a new election that would affect the next four years in the county of Santa Clara for the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District.

Rudy Nasol was elected for Trustee Area 1, Craig Mann was elected for Trustee Area 3, Wendy Ho was elected for Trustee Area 5 and Mayra Cruz was reelected but this time as president of the district board.

“We have been fortunate in this district to have a progressive and engaged, student-oriented set of trustees in the last 10 to 12 years,” said David Yancey, history instructor at San Jose City College.

“I am hopeful that these new members have the same priorities and move the district forward in a positive direction.”

Cruz has served as a trustee for this district for four years and is now being elected as president of the district board because of her record of putting education and students’ success as the priority.

“I am committed to education,” said Cruz, who won the election with the 71.42 percent of the votes, according to smartvoter.org.

“Helping students is Mayra’s priority,” said Yancey, who is also the President of the American Federation of Teachers 6157.

“She is focused on the impact the decisions will have on students.”

Cruz also works as a faculty member at the Child Development and Education Department for De Anza College.

“I know how life for students at community college is,” Cruz said.

“I live the life of a faculty member at De Anza College, and I talk to students every day.”

Cruz and the trustees are expected to deal with some challenges as part of the district board.

The budget the trustees adopt annually is defined by their priorities and according to the services and programs they want to provide to students.

“Revenue from the state has been declining, but since the passage of Proposition 30, the decline is stopping,” Yancey said.

Cruz believes working collab-

MARIA LAURA MIRAMON / TIMES STAFF

San Jose Evergreen Valley College Board of Trustee elected three new members in Nov. 6, replacing for three former retired board members. Trustee Mayra Cruz was elected to be the president of the board. From left: Jeffrey Lease, Wendy Ho, Rudy Nasol, Mayra Cruz, Maria Fuentes, Balbir Dhillon and Craig Mann oratively with the community is the first step in the search of finding ways to deal with financial stability and pursue and secure new revenue streams.

“We live in a very rich county that offers many possibilities,” Cruz said. “Why not consider these possibilities that the county provides to obtain income and economic resources that can help us help students?”

Ho, elected for Trustee Area 5, said she would like to encourage the colleges to aggressively pursue grant opportunities to enhance the district’s existing resources.

For Yancey, this is being the worst time for the budget. He assures making good decisions and establishing the right priorities can solve the dilemma.

The district board can either focus on spending the money to help support students, or adopt a conservative perspective and decide to save and have a big reserve in case the economy sinks sometime in the future, Yancey said.

From Yancey’s perspective, the district is going too far by adopting an extremely conservative attitude, having enough money in

reserve to double the minimum that the state requires.

“The district has a 12 percent reserve when the state requires a minimum of five percent,” Yancey said. “I think they have more money in reserve than they need, and it hurts our ability to serve students.”

“The center of our lives is the academic success of each student.”

Mayra Cruz, president of the District Board

Money and students’ success are linked together.

“The district must have a balanced budget, without deficit spending and with the appropriate reserves,” said Mann, who was reelected two times at the East Side Union High School District Board of Trustees after having an impressing track record of actions oriented to students.

“I have led initiatives such as increasing the number of high

Health Services gets 100k Grant Money Pledged to Smoking Cessation Program

BY GERARDO REVUELTA

TIMES STAFF

The San Jose City College Student Health Services Program received an approval totaling $100,000 over the next two years from the Pfizer Medical Education Group of New York.

The grant is approved for the program Trash The Ash, a smoking cessation program service to be offered in 2013.

“About 200 people have participated since the program started,” said smoking cessation program director for SJCC and Evergreen Valley College Janet Reid, R.N. The smoking cessation pro-

gram began in 2003 at SJCC with the help of a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The current program, supported by a grant from Breathe California, offers weekly counseling sessions and a wide range of products, including lozenges, gum and toothpicks, to help with oral fixation.

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the American College of Chest Physicians were some of the other applicants for the grant; SJCC was the only college in the country that was approved.

Currently, Reid gives her participants her personal phone number for people to use when they are in need of some counseling off campus.

The new grant will be used to

provide more on-campus hours for Reid to work with participants and help improve the awareness of the program in the community.

“We will be reaching out to some of the other programs, such as EMT, nursing and cosmetology, to help spread the word,” Reid said. The grant will also assist in developing and passing a district-wide no-smoking policy.

“I am really excited,” Reid said. “Helping people quit is something very important to me because of the damage it does, and the damage it does to surrounding people.”

For more information, call Student Health Services at 408288-3724.

quality charter schools, securing a building for the county’s alternative education students, reforming district leadership and balancing a $275 million budget,” Mann said.

Cruz said under her government, the district will evaluate and analyze where the money is going and what the outcomes are, to make use of the funds in the most effective way possible, focusing on what needs improvement, what needs to be cut or what needs to disappear according to how much these programs support students’ success.

“Thanks to Proposition 30, there is more money than what was estimated for the operating budget,” Cruz said. “However, I think the district board should work on achieving long-term financial stability and solve the actual structural deficiency, and that is what we are going to work on together with the chancellor and all the representatives groups.”

Nasol, elected for Trustee Area 1, also sees the budget as the biggest challenge since Proposition 13 passed in 1978, which no longer adequately funded public education in California and forced schools to adopt budget cutbacks

as the norm.

“The recent voter-passed Proposition 30 is only a stop-gap remedy and not a permanent fix,” Nasol said. “We are not out of the hole yet.”

To address the financial challenges, Nasol is looking forward to supporting the district’s Education Foundation in fundraising effort and consider a parcel tax initiative at the local level, he wrote in an email.

Nasol also plans to work toward full accreditation for both colleges and institute policies and procedures to avoid the mistakes of the past.

“As a trustee, I want to make sure students at both campuses get the best educational opportunities, which will be reflected in our budget priorities as well as the educational policies that we adopt,” Nasol said.

Ho said developing relationships and partnerships with industry is crucial in order to help students achieve their educational goals.

“We have partnerships with companies that provide internship and other professional development opportunities for our students, but I would like to see more of those partnerships evolve into teaching fellowship opportunities for industry leaders so that students are better prepared for the workforce,” said Ho, who grew up in San Jose and is a former student of both Evergreen Valley and San Jose City Colleges.

Cruz said she will ensure the district achieves the highest accreditation standards.

“I am looking forward to working together with all the members of the board in adopting a policy oriented to reach the highest levels in terms of institutional effectiveness, while making sure to have financial stability,” Cruz said.

With students as her priority, Cruz said she wants San Jose’s institutions to grow, develop and become the best institutions in the county.

Ho also has institutional effectiveness as her priority and she is looking forward to maximize tax payer investment, according to votewendyho2012.com.

“The center of our lives is the academic success of each student,” Cruz said. “The dialogue and all our decisions at the board will be based on achieving students’ success.”

4 Campus Life

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013

TAKE YOUR HIGHER EDUCATION

even higher Transfer Agreement

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DeVry.edu/BayArea | 888.953.3789 Program availability varies by location. ©2012 DeVry Educational Development Corp. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 FINANCIAL AID FRAUD

FROM PAGE 1

Financial aid is defined by Kubo as something to help cover the cost of education. That includes tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, transportation and some miscellaneous expenses.

Computer programming major Davicia Tautai, 19, who works in the financial aid office, said students request aid for other reasons.

“I’ve heard, ‘I need my money; I need to pay my bills’; ‘I’m not registered at this school, but I’m in debt,’” Tautai said.

Tautai said she has also heard students threaten and curse at workers in the financial aid office.

Financial aid fraud can become a bigger expense for taxpayers when multiple criminals form a fraud ring.

According to a document released by the Board of Education Office of the Inspector General on Sept. 18, a fraud ring is made up of “large, loosely affiliated groups of criminals that seek to exploit distance education programs in order to fraudulently obtain student aid.”

The document also revealed the indictments of criminals Brent Wilder and Michael Huddleston, who between 2009 and 2012 “caused the fraudulent disbursement of more than $200,000.”

The two employed more than 50 students to apply for financial aid at American River College, Sacramento City College and Consumnes River College.

According to the OIG document, community colleges tend to be more susceptible to financial aid fraud because tuition costs less, leaving a greater award balance intended for other education-

al expenses.

Robert Thomas, 42, a drug and alcohol counseling major, said he has heard of the homeless receiving financial aid from multiple community colleges simultaneously.

“I lived at a homeless shelter, and the information trickles down,” Thomas said.

Kubo also said that students are able to receive aid from multiple campuses. But that ends when students either run out of money or schools begin questioning them.

“There is a national database that tracks a student and how much financial aid he receives at any college in the United States … you can tell after a certain point in the year if a student received financial aid, including student loans, at other colleges,” Kubo said.

There are some students who receive financial aid and continue taking classes, although Kubo questions their actual financial need.

“I raise an eyebrow when financial aid students are driving nice cars and wearing designer clothes,” Kubo said.

Students are reacting to illegitimate financial aid recipients.

“It affects the students who are really trying to go to school,” Thomas said.

“I live with my parents, but they aren’t paying for anything. I’m not getting any help,” Guzman said.

Though Kubo remembers students who committed financial aid fraud when he was in school and thinks students will continue to do so, he said he tries to focus on the majority of students at SJCC. “We concentrate on the mass of people doing things right,” Kubo said. “Our efforts are better spent there.”

STEVE HILL/TIMES STAFF

Reprographics staff member Khan Vo puts a finished print job out for pick up Dec. 17. coursework on the rise, students REPOGRAPHICS can print their course materials FROM PAGE 1 from Moodle, an online e-learning software that allows students handles all district mail.

The department has moved to to collaborate on coursework and digital printing from offset print- download course materials from ing, even as the volume of work the Internet.

But Adamcseski doesn’t recis down.

“We now can do full four-color ommend the headache of printing printing, which is something on class materials and said she tells the offset presses we could not her students, “Do yourself a favor do,” Fasbinder said. “We could do and buy it from the bookstore.”

Adamcseski said they (stuwhat was called spot color (with offset), which were areas of sol- dents) can save a lot of time, trouid color, but now we can do full ble and money buying them from the campus bookstore. four-color process.”

“So they (Reprographics) ac“Our overall volume has gone down somewhat,” Fasbinder said, tually produce six custom read“The reason for that primarily is ers for each of my classes,” that the district has suggested that Adamcseski said. “It reduces cost the faculty go as paperless as pos- for students so they don’t have to sible so more and more tests are buy published documents. In the long run it’s going to be less exbeing posted (on Moodle).”

With the usage of online pensive and not time consuming.”

Campus Life 5

6 Campus Life

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013

10 Tips for Freshmen H

ey freshmen, welcome to San Jose City College!

Regardless of why you chose this college, there are 10 things you should know to make sure your time here is not wasted.

BY LINH NGUYEN

TIMES STAFF

1. How to Apply for School?

(For about-to-be freshmen) This quesion is one of the most popular questions at the Information Desk and Admission and Records.

To apply to SJCC, you just need to get on the website: cccapply.com or sjcc.edu and go to Apply & Register.

After you’re done registering, take a placement test and visit a counselor.

Make sure you know why you are at college; know your plan.

Talk to a counselor two weeks after the semester starts and two weeks after the semester ends to form your educational plan. You can plan one semester ahead of your academic plan.

2. What is a Student ID for?

How do I get one?

After you pay your tuition, you can use your ID card, which has your picture, birthday and student ID number.

You can get this card by providing proof of your class schedule and a photo ID at the information desk in the Student Center.

Your card will be printed once your photo is taken. You can use this card to borrow books from the library and to print by upgrading the card with coins or cash.

More than that, during finals, you can use your student ID card to stay late at the Martin Luther King Library.

3. Get used to the 6. Join the Newscampus’ website: paper and Media sjcc.edu Club Yes, please.

There is tons of information on the website. There are answers for many of your questions about the school, from how to apply to information about student services, courses, library and campus sport teams.

Don’t wait until someone tells you how to do something; go and find out about it yourself.

4. Get Financial Aid!

Many students choose SJCC because its tuition fee is lower than other public institutions.

If you have financial problems, don’t be shy. Reach out and you will see there are a lot opportunities for you to get support from the school.

Where to get the info: Student Center, 1st floor.

Phone: (408) 288-3741 Email: sjccfa@sjcc.edu When: Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. –5:30 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Most schedules of Financial Aid Workshop and Student Loans are provided on the school’s website. Go to Apply & Register, then Financial Aid.

5. Being a Part of the Student Body

You will represent more than 10,000 students at this school and work along with faculty, staff and administrators to give students the kind of school they want, or more likely the kind of school you want to study at.

Don’t get bored with homework. Joining the campus newspaper or being a part of the radio station may improve your social skills, which are crucial when you look for a job. Being a part of the media, you will experience the real workplace environment and build up your portfolio.

Contact: Newspaper adviser: Farideh Dada farideh.dada@sjcc.edu Radio club president: Larry Harris larry_l_harris@yahoo.com

7. Don’t get Lost.

Don’t be Late.

There are lots of things happening on campus, such as new buildings, new parking spots or old buildings under construction. Walking around the campus one or two days before class starts is a good idea to make sure you don’t get lost on the first day of class.

In the first two weeks of the semester, parking lots are always full. So try to go an hour or two earlier because it will take time for you to find a parking spot. Make sure you know all the possible parking lots around campus in case you can’t find one where you want to park.

For the college’s map, go to page 8.

8. Go to Your Teacher’s Office Hours and do Your Homework

Teacher’s Movie Temporarily put on Hold Director Couldn’t Obtain Funds

BY JULIAN CASTILLO

TIMES STAFF

English professor Michelle Blair started preparing to work on her documentary “The People’s College”, which was a profile of students and the challenges they face of the local community college system. The film is currently on hold.

The film began production with pre-interviews and the choice of who would join the project in the summer of 2011.

Blair started with some money from family that would give her the opportunity to film a short clip and start a Kickstarter campaign that would enable her to film the full movie.

Once the Kickstarter was up for five to six weeks Blair met her goal of $5,000

Michelle Blair, an English instructor at San Jose City College, is the diretor of “The People’s College.”

In addition to the Kickstarter campaign, Blair also applied for the Independent Television Service grant to help her film as much as she could.

She filmed a 10-minute trailer and sent it to the grant and suc-

ceeded in receiving the grant; since then, Blair has been unable to raise money for the film.

She spent a year applying for 10 grants to foundations such as Sundance Film Festival, Lumina Foundation, and Latino Public Broadcasting, but she has only received rejections.

Blair’s goal is to raise $2,000 to make a new trailer due to new ideas and plans that have come up in the past year that can be put in the trailer.

“On the one hand I feel like the film is part of something bigger, but on the other hand I feel like I’m alone in it,” Blair said, “I haven’t found anyone to come on board and be on the same level as me so that’s where I am right now.”

A release date has yet to be announced.

This is the advice of ESL instructor Margaret Muench and Academic Senate President Charles Heimler.

If you miss a class session, don’t understand the material or would love to discuss more about some topics in the class, go to your teacher’s office.

“Students who come to their teacher’s office during the office hours normally get higher grade than students who don’t,” Heimler said.

Muech encouraged students to understand their teachers on a more personal level, and she said that would help them a lot.

9. Buying Books

Yes, college students do need textbooks. Online shopping or exchanging books with other students are the best ways to save your money. However, there are a few books you have to buy at our campus bookstore.

After you’re done with finals, don’t throw the books away, sell them back to other students or to the bookstore.

You can also apply to receive book loans, which can be up to $200 from the school’s Association Students Government. Go to Information Desk and ask for a form, fill in and apply!

10. Need a Laptop?

Our school can lend you a few, with a promise you take good care of it and give it back at the end of the semester. You can take advantage of the first and second floors of our school library, which are equipped with computers, printers and photocopy machines.

Free Exhibition and Visiting Artists Schedule for spring 2013 at The Evergreen Valley College Art Gallery.

Feb. 4 – Feb. 21 Creative Young Minds

This exhibit will feature artwork created by the kids as it reflects the goals of the The Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley to foster imagination, discipline and communication.

March 4 – April 11 Life, Art, Hope

The Maya Woman exhibit presents original works from many of the most creative contemporary indigenous artists from Guatemala. Paintings from prominent Tz’utuhil and Kaqchikel Maya artists reveal the strength of a culture that has survived 500 years of brutal oppression, the hardship and beauty of indigenous women’s lives, as well as the legacy of violence that continues to haunt the country.

Maya Woman

Panel discussion: March 12, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. at Montgomery Hall Central America is one of the most dangerous places in the world for women. Women are being tortured, raped and murdered with virtual impunity—and the violence is escalating. Panelists will discuss this crisis of violence against women in a country scarred by genocidal war.

May 1 – May 16 Annual Juried Art Exhibit

Student

This highly anticipated annual exhibit features work by EVC students and is juried by Art Department faculty.

ADDRESS: 3095 Yerba Buena Road San Jose, CA 95135 ART GALLERY HOURS: Mondays through Thursdays 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

CAMPUS STORE SALE OFF

Take 25% off everything red and pink in the store.

From Sweatshirts to red and pink pens.

Balloons will be available to purchase the week of Valentine’s Day.

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013

Sports 7

Meet the Coaches

BY PATRICK LOERA

TIMES STAFF

Opinion

Head coach Percy Carr

The Spirit is in The Fans

BY PATRICK LOERA

TIMES STAFF

Last semester, the question about Jaguar sports was “Is it the fans?”

It might have had a minute effect on football and volleyball as they had more losses than wins last season.

But it clearly didn’t influence cross country as they went to the state championships. In fact, not having any fans present might have motivated them that much more to win.

Both men’s and women’s basketball might be motivated also as they have had success with a small home crowd in the stands.

Actually, men’s basketball we went undefeated (7-0) at home in 2012, women’s basketball was building steam with a winning home record, and both teams had few “cheeks-in-seats.”

And softball, one of the most successful sports on campus, has never really had a fan problem because their games are usually during the day when students are on campus.

Plus, the softball team has resembled giants amongst little people in the South Conference for the past 15 years.

Still, whether the Jaguars are successful or not, the fans are the heartbeat of the stands, literally creating energy for the teams to build on.

When people invented the term “team spirit,” they must have been thinking of how the body heat from people creates the spirit of a sport.

Sure, a team can be great without fans, but the Jaguars can be champions with them.

SJCC student athletes are the warriors of our school who fight for the pride of Jaguars and represent the campus on the national level.

They represent us, so we should represent them.

Who knows, maybe your shouts and chants will motivate your classmates, friends or family members to run faster, jump higher, hit harder and be greater for you, the fans.

Go Jags!

Assistant coach Jason James is in his second year at San Jose City College.

James attended Central Washington University where he played two years of college basketball Central Washington from 1991-1992 and 1995-1996 and graduated with a bachelor’s in physical education and a minor in health.

After Central Washington University, James earned his master’s

Percy Carr is in his 39th year as the head coach of Men’s basketball.

Percy Carr is entering his 39th year as head basketball coach for the Jaguars.

Carr attended the College of the Sequoias for community college and graduated from Fresno State University where he majored in physical education and minored in humanities.

With more than 800 wins, Carr is the winningest coach in California community college history.

In Carr’s tenure, the Jaguars have gone to the playoffs 32 of 36 years.

He has guided eight different

Assistant coach Jason James

Assistant coach Dallas Jensen is in his first year at San Jose City College.

After attending SJCC from 1999-2001, Jensen transferred to Brigham Young UniversityHawai’i where he obtained a

Debbie Huntze-Rooney is entering her 19th year as head coach of the women’s softball team.

Huntze-Rooney played softball and basketball at West Valley College before transferring to Chico State University where she would also play softball and field hockey.

During her time at SJCC, Huntze-Rooney has managed to

bachelor’s in psychology.

Jensen is an ideal fit for the position as he is a former Jaguar who played under Carr as a point guard and shooting guard.

As a Jaguar, Jensen helped SJCC go undefeated in conference two years in a row. He also went 44 percent from three-point land in his career as a college athlete.

Head coach Terri Oberg

Assistant coach Fritzie Villegas

emphasis in movement science and minored in African American studies, sports nutrition and sports psychology in 2006.

Villegas began her coaching career at Leigh High School, moved to Monta Vista High School, and finally went to Wilcox High School before coming to SJCC.

Feb. 6 – SJCC vs. West Valley, @ SJCC, 7 p.m.

Feb. 8 – Bye Feb. 13 – SJCC vs. Gavilan @ Gilroy, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 30 – SJCC vs. Monterey Peninsula @ Monterey, 7 p.m.

Feb. 1 – SJCC vs. Cabrillo @ Aptos, 5 p.m.

Feb. 6 – SJCC vs. Mission @ SJCC, 5 p.m.

Feb. 13 – SJCC vs. Ohlone @ Fremont, 7 p.m.

Softball

Feb. 3 – SJCC vs. Siskiyous @ noon SJCC vs. Sierra College, Rocklin @ 2 p.m.

Feb. 4 – SJCC vs. Cosumnes River @ Sacramento, 11 a.m.

Feb. 11 – SJCC vs. Modesto @10:30 a.m.

SJCC vs. Taft, @ Modesto 12:30 p.m.

Head coach Debbie HuntzeRooney

Jenny Montez is in her fourth season as assistant coach at San Jose City College.

After graduating from Wilcox High School in 2006, Montez attended and played softball for SJCC for two years before trans-

Feb. 1 – SJCC vs. Cabrillo @ Aptos, 7 p.m.

Feb. 15 – SJCC vs. De Anza, @ SJCC, 5 p.m.

lead the Lady Jags to the Regional Play-offs 15 years in a row.

With more than 500 wins, she has also received Coast Conference Coach of the year, and Northern California Coach of the Year Awards.

Assistant coach Jenny Montez

Jan. 30 – SJCC vs. Monterey Peninsula College @ Monterey, 5 p.m.

Women’s Basketball

Later, she attended San Jose State University and received her master’s degree in human performance Oberg has led the Lady Jags to the Northern California Regional Play-offs 17 times and has gone to the women’s state championships four.

She made school history in the 1997-98 season when she led the Lady Jags to their first women’s state championship victory.

Assistant coach Fritze Villegas is in her second year at San Jose City College.

Villegas attended San Jose State University where she received a bachelor’s in kinesiology with an

Men’s Basketball

Feb. 16 – SJCC vs. De Anza @ SJCC, 3 p.m.

degree in Educational Technology from City University in 2001.

Prior to coming to SJCC, James had taught physical education in the Eastside Union High School District. He spent eight years at James Lick High School and four at Silver Creek High School.

Assistant coach Dallas Jensen

Terri Oberg, also known as Coach “O,” is in her 21st year as head coach of the women’s basketball team at San Jose City College.

As a college student athlete who participated in basketball and softball, Oberg attended California State University Fullerton on a full softball scholarship where she would lead her team to a national title during her senior year.

Jaguar teams to the State Championships, claimed 12 Conference Championships and has produced 17 first team all-state players.

In March 1998, he was inducted to the California Community College Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame.

Carr also is the director of the Creative Athletic Retention Response program at SJCC, which assists student athletes academically to prepare to transfer to a four-year university.

And in September 2000, Coach Carr was honored by the 100 Black Men of the Silicon Valley Organization as the Educator of the Year.

Feb. 14 – SJCC vs. Solano @ Suisun Valley 3 p.m. ferring to California State Monterey Bay where she continued her softball career a bachelor’s in social and behavioral sciences.

Feb. 16 – SJCC vs. Los Medanos, @ SJCC, 2 p.m.

8 Unincorporated

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013

What are Some of Your Goals for This Semester?

GERARDO REVUELTA AND MARIA LAURA MIRAMON/TIMES STAFF

COMPILED BY STEVE HILL/TIMES STAFF

• The black widow spider’s bite is is reported to be 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake’s bite.

• An adult humpback whale measures 48 to 62.5 feet in length and can weigh up to 40 tons.

• According to some estimates, nearly 30 percent of households in the United States own at least one cat.

• Alaska has the longest coastline in the U.S. at 6,640 miles.

Erik Curry Major: Hospitality Business Management Age: 20 Get all of my general education out of the way and maybe join one of the clubs on campus.

Doriann Tran Position: International Student Counselor Age: 36 Expanding and solidifying the international students program and also making them feel like they have a second home here on campus.

Jose Vega Major: Electrical Engineering Age: 18 I will try to improve my pre-calculus grade by studying with my friend so we can help each other.

• The only royal palace used by a monarch in the U.S. is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Iolani Palace belonged to King Kalakaua and Queen Lili’uokalani until the monarchy was overthrown in 1893.

•College students spend more on alcohol than on textbooks.

•Alcohol-related accidents are the No. 1 killer of teens.

• In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders.

• Most lipstick contains fish scales.

• The Grammy Awards were introduced to counter the threat of rock music. In the 1950s, a group of record executives were alarmed by the explosive success of rock ‘n roll, considering it a threat to “quality” music.

Sourses: Bootstrike.com, nationalgeographic.com, PBS.org, geography.about.com

Roxanna Betancourt Major: Media Arts Age: 23 Get more involved with social events on campus and try to get into the study abroad program so I can go to Italy.

Mick Evans Major: Undecided Age: 19 This semester I will try to study harder for my finals and stop procrastinating so much.

Alix Medeiros Major: Business Age: 21 Not to take a heavy load, and focus on the classes I do have. I took 18 units last semester so this semester, I will take at least 12.

NEXT NEWSPAPER: Feb. 19 EMAIL US: citycollegetimes@jaguars.sjcc.edu CHECK US OUT ONLINE: www.sjcctimes.com