Cerritos opens up gallery, “Over/Flow” Arts Page 3
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WEDNESDAY September 23, 2009
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Volume 54, No. 4
First issue free, additional copies $1
Union approaches contract agreement Joey Berumen Staff Writer joey.berumen@talonmarks.com
Seven years ago, when the Cerritos College union was formed, there was merely a faculty senate. During the consequential seven years, both the union and the district have made collective efforts to compromise and come to an agreement on a collective bargaining agreement that both sides seem fit. The collective bargaining agreement is essentially the bill of rights for the faculty union. While other community colleges have already had a contract with their respective unions for years, it seems
that the time is now for Cerritos College to implement a fair and acceptable contract that would benefit professors. The pre-existing faculty handbook, which was the extent of any kind of contract framework, was also added into the new contract that is expected to be signed within the next few years. Last spring, the two sides agreed to go into mediation, which simply means that there would be a mediator to assist both sides in coming to a conclusion. This proved to be a great asset to the negotiations. On Aug. 31, both sides, with help from the mediator, finally came up with the framework for an agreement.
“Even though I have only been here for a week, I’ve made a commitment to work openly with the faculty union,” Cerritos College President Linda Lacy said. Having representatives of the faculty union present during crucial decisions is something that many feel is essential to the well being of the union. This is something that many feel the past president, Dr. Noelia Vela, did a horrendous job of during her tenure. “In previous years, the faculty union tended to find out about decisions made, after the fact,” said Ted Stolze, president of the faculty union. As a result of rigorous planning and negotiating,
both sides agreed to establish a safety committee. The two parties agreed that some of the facilities at Cerritos College were not adequate for either a professor to do his job or a student to learn. “Our teaching conditions are also the students’ learning conditions,” added Stolze, who has been the president of the union for the past two years. The new committee allows faculty to bring any safety concerns they may have to be reviewed by the safety committee board. The board is made up of three members of the union and three representatives of the district.
Blood results are in!
See Union Page 2
Cerritos invites leaders Alnas Zia
Staff Writer alnas.zia@talonmarks.com
Let the sucking begin: Nurse Elizabeth DeMartino watches nursing major Joshua Molino’s blood being drained out by the ALYX machine.
Michael Agudo/TM
Cerritos gives 50 more pints than last semester Daniel Sandoval Staff Writer daniel.sandoval@talonmarks.com
1,056 lives will potentially be saved thanks to everyone who donated blood at Cerritos last week according to Rob Torrez, Senior Field Manager for the American Red Cross. 352 pints of blood were obtained from students and others last Monday through Wednesday. “We beat last time by about 50 units,” Torrez said enthusiastically. Cerritos Clubs did a phenomenal job bringing people into the donation area. Torrez called the student support phenom-
enal and wanted to emphasize how much impact club involvement had on the high turnout Clubs have been involved in recruiting donors for over five years. The Club that signs up the most people to at least go to the donation area and inquire about donating will receive a prize. The winner receives the Crystal Drop Award during the Activities Awards Banquet and a pizza party for their club Torrez said. Rewarding donors and people that aid Red Cross efforts is nothing new. They have offered rewards to clubs for years now
in Cerritos and always have individual incentives for donors Torrez said. Aside from being able to feel good about what you’ve done, and some free refreshments after the donation, the Red Cross usually offers an extra perk to get more people thinking about donating. “They gave us a free appetizer at Mimi’s Café,” Crystal Garcia, zoology major said describing a thank-you gift she received last week for donating blood. Many times gifts take the shape of gift cards, event tickets, and even frequent donor points. This frequent donor points program gives back to donors by allowing them to
collect points toward purchasing anything in the Red Cross online store. You can purchase anything from shirts to emergency preparedness kits with your points and can expect them to reach anywhere in the U.S. two to three weeks later. “The more you give the more you get,” Garcia added. She has been part of the points program for a while and says it’s nice to receive things for doing a good deed. The next blood drive at Cerritos will be this November 17 through the 19 but the Red Cross has other centers open all the time. For more information visit www.redcross.org/en/ or call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.
The presence of local leaders may soon grace Cerritos College, as efforts are underway to invite leaders from all around the country to speak to students at Cerritos. Commissioner of External Affairs Juan Guerra said that the ASCC is planning to reach out to community leaders who would shed light on the current economic situation and what they are doing to counteract the problem. “We have set this goal because we know that students have been in some way impacted by the economic crisis, and the leaders can provide a bigger picture of what is going on in our community and may also offer some advice,” Guerra said. The initial efforts have been targeted towards mayors, vice mayors, city managers, councilors and other influential personalities from the cities surrounding Cerritos College. Guerra is also looking towards community representatives, such as Congresswomen Grace Napolitano and Linda Sanchez, to talk to a larger audience than the student body at Cerritos College. Both of these women have visited Cerritos College before to speak about various topics. ASCC President Oscar Franco has initiated this effort by inviting the mayor of Downey, who showed interest in this idea. “We are trying to give this idea a shot by inviting local leaders, and eventually the state and national leaders to Cerritos. We want these leaders to motivate the students and talk about leadership,” Franco said. Franco has big plans about this idea but nothing has been solidified yet. He is starting things at the grassroots level but hopes that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama too would someday visit Cerritos. “It is possible, you never know,” he said.