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“‘L’ is for the way you look at me” A look at love OPINION ON 2
‘Feed me, Seymour!’ Little Shop of Horrors impresses Solano FEATURES ON 5
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Justin Silas performs a blocking drill during the Solano College karate club weekly meeting held Wednesday’s in the 1700 building. See page 8 for more.
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• OCT 29 - NOV 11, 2014 • VOL. 31, NO. 5 • FAIRFIELD, CA • www.solanotempest.net •
college behind
Prison correspondence courses approved, but could risk accreditation Dagmar Kuta Editor-in-Chief dkuta@solanotempest. net
Don’t worry, you won’t be seeing any striped jumpsuits on campus. ¶ Solano College has finally approved a proposal from the California State Prison that will create distance education correspondence courses available to inmates at the California State Prison located in Vacaville. The courses will also be available to all students. ¶ But, maybe you should worry about this: a large concern is regarding initiation of this program is whether adding it will constitute substantive change in relation to accreditation. According the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), “substantive change requires prior Commission approval. … Implementing a substantive change without prior Commission approval may result in a Commission decision
to re-evaluate the college’s accredited status.” ¶ “Correspondence is listed as a substantive change… it is,” said Annette Dambrosio, accreditation coordinator, during a division meeting for the school of liberal arts. “I just don’t want us to follow the path we have in the past with some new projects, [where] after the fact we barely get [approval for substantive change], and I think the best way to answer that is to have the accreditation liaison officer Diane White immediately write about this and say whether it is in fact a substantive change.” ¶ Teachers raised questions and concerns regarding the courses, like what material would be suitable, and how equal the services provided would be to inmates. “We have to provide student services, everything,” said Dambrosio. ¶ “Financial Aid, DSP, and EOPS are already involved. Many [of the inmates] will be EOPS
eligible,” said Leslie Minor, dean of social and behavioral sciences. ¶ Several colleges already hold contracts with the state prison, including Palo Verde College and Coast College, according to Minor. “The prison’s education administrator says they are working with 6-8 colleges,” said Minor in an email. “We have classes being created in Art, CDFS, and Counseling, with some initial interest being shown in other areas.” ¶ The courses offered will be IGETC courses to transfer to a four year university. Non-inmate students will be able to correspond with instruction by mail, meetings, or email. Inmates will use a courier to get physical assignments to and from professors. ¶ Another concern was how viable conversation between student and instructor would be. “There is a dialogue. It may not be immediate, but neither is online,” said Minor.
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¶ “Including this population is a good way to grow enrollments at SCC and to provide education to those in society who need it the most,” said SCC President/Superintendent Dr. Jowel Laguerre in the Sept. 3 edition of his weekly newsletter. “Not only is the cost low to educate a prisoner, but also society benefits greatly when these individuals are reintroduced to the community. By educating prisoners, [we] will assist citizens
to be better equipped to lead a productive life, and as Prison officials state, the rate of recidivism is lower for educated individuals.” ¶ Although these correspondence courses will likely be opening in January, Gov. Jerry
Brown recently signed SB 1391, which first and foremost “waives ‘open course’ provisions for California Community College courses offered in state correctional facilities,” according to the Senate Floor Analysis of the bill. This conforms “to current allowances for CCC courses in local or federal correctional facilities, for which the colleges receive funding even though the courses are not open to the general public.” In short, community colleges can now offer classes solely to inmates serving at California prisons. ¶ “This legislation has opened up substantial opportunities for SCC,” said Laguerre in his Oct. 1 newsletter. “Since we had already started some planning internally, we are looking to speed up the process of offering courses at California State Prison, Solano, located in Vacaville.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used.” - Hunter S. Thompson