HE Friday, March 5, 1993
ELESCOPE
Palomar Community College, 1140 West Mission Road, San Marcos CA 92069-1487
Volume 46, Number 15
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Blood drive protested by Undefeated Club By Christine Doan
Staff Writer During the March 2 Inter-Club Council meeting, Karma Rios, a representative of the Undefeated Club, announced the club's protest of the annual Palomar Blood Drive on grounds of discrimination. The non-profit San Diego Blood Bank has come to Palomar's campus for blood donations for at least five years. A small budget and limited space make it difficult for them to accomodate handicapped people. "I don't want to make a big stink about it," said Dee Rodriquez, E.O.P.S. facilitator
and Undefeated Club adviser. "I think it can be worked out," she added. The club disagreed with the fact that the blood drive served as a fundraising competition for clubs. The club with the most donors received a cash prize. Oose to 60 percent of the Undefeated Club's members are handicapped, so they were ineligible to compete due to the lack of proper facilities. .Rodriguez said she wonders why the I.C.C. would have a contest like this if they wanted fairness for everyone. Lori Vaughan, a registered nurse who helped out with the blood drive, explained why they are not "handicap-friendly."
''We are not discriminating the handicapped, we just don't want to compromise their safety,"Vaughan said. The tables upon which donors lie are unstable and shaky. Ifa handicapped person should fall off there would be risk of a liability charge. There are no specialized recliner chairs that enable wheelchair users to donate blood. These special chairs are costly and heavy. The Blood Bank works with a restricted budget that relies mostly on contributions. Even if they could afford the approximately 100-pound apparatuses, there wouldn't be any room for them in the cafeteria
"It's just not practical since there aren't enough wheelchair donors," Vaughan said. '"They can't donate on our bases, but we do have blood centers around the area" Two North County centers do have the special chairs to accomodate wheelchair donors. Rodriquez felt that if there were enough wheelchair donors, the Blood Bank could bring accessible equipment once a year. '"The club members can line up the donors ahead of time," she said.."It's a matter of sitting down with the planners." Taking almost $500,000 out of the Blood Bank's budget to accommodate such a plan would be a challenge they have yet to meet.
Palomar/CSUSM alliance hopes to promote cultural diversity By Kathy Combs
with a "Senior Faculty Mentor." Interns would attend workshops and would be coached to hone their skills in the classAn alliance between Palomar and Cali- room. fomia State University, San Marcos may "Palomar is a powerful ally," said become the sparkthatignitesculturaldiver- CSUSM President Dr. Bill Stacy. "We can sity at both campuses in the future. share with each other the strengths each of Throughanewly-proposedprojectcalled us have." Students in the intern program "Hands Across the Highway," Palomar's would be role models for other students, he Faculty Senate and CSUSM's Academic said. Senate will combine their resources to imAccording to Faculty Senate President prove ethnic diversity for Palomar's faculty Margie Ruzich, the project would give Paloand CSUSM' s student population. mar the boost it needs to hire minority facUnder the plan, Palomar would encour- .¡ ulty members while encouraging underage ethnically-diverse students to transfer to represented students to attend CSUSM. And CSUSM to train as teachers. As graduates themethodforimprovingdiversityis"home they wouldintematPalomar by being paired gr~wn," she said.
Staff Writer
Ruzich said that Palomar has fallen significantly short of a state-mandated 30 percent goal for an ethnically-diverse faculty. Records show only 12 percent of staff and faculty are from historically under-represented groups and about 75 percent of those are assigned to Student Services. CSUSM, whose ethnically diverse faculty exceeds 40 percent, can provide the parameters to meet Palomar's goal, Ruzich added. On the other end of the scale is CSUSM' s student population which, according to Stacy, does not represent a cross-section of California. Although it's difficult to evaluate the transfer rate from Paloinar to California
State Universities, one Palomar study estimates the overall transfer rate is about 22 percent. ¡ According to Palomar's "Fact" book, 38 Hispanic students transferred to CSUs in 1990. Ruzich said she hopes the school's consorted effort will become a model for Califomia universities. "I feel this has tremendous statewide and national impact," she wrote in a letter to CSUSM officials. To fuDd the project, Palomar will apply for a grant of $66,000 from the Community College Chancellor's office. Ruzich has also asked CSUSM to help finance part of the venture.