MikeNess
MediaViolence
Baseball
Lead singer of Social Distortion releases his first solo album, 'Cheating at Solitaire.'
Does media violence cause violence in our society, or are we just shooting the messenger?
Comets kill the Knights, 16-2 with two home runs from outfielder Chad Stewart. Sports, page 12
Opinion , page 5
Arts & Entertainment, page 6
TI1E: MONDAY,
MAY
3, 1999
PALOMAR
COLLEGE
SAN
MARCOS
, CA
VOLUME
Athletics strive It's for a good cause, right? to level gender playing · field ■
Palomar at end of six year plan to equalize sports Jessica Long Staff' Writer
In the 25th anniversary year of a landmark leg islation which calls for a ban on sex discrimination in schools both in academics and athletics , Title IX continues to spark controversy, especially among college -level competitive sports programs. In an effo rt to exam ine Palomar's compliance with the Title IX statue, the college's athletic director, along with both men and women coaches and the direc tor of student services voluntarily formed a Gender Eq uit y Committee of Palomar College. The committee, which first met in 1993, composed a six -year plan for Palom ar's athletic department to follow. With the closing of the spring 1999 semester, so also marks the end of the six year plan. According to the guidelines of the Title IX legislation, Palomar College Athletics is indeed in comp lianc e with Title IX except for two factors - women's locker facilities and the male to female athlete ratio. Director of Athletics John Woods said while both male and female athletes at Palomar receive eq ual supp or t systems in areas such as equ ipm en t/suppli es, athletic training, transportation budgets
and tutoring services, the varsity men's locker room is "much nicer" than the women's locker facilities. "Years and years and years ago, we had a donor give us a bunch of money into our football program and that's all it could be used for. Part of that money went to upgrade a locker room for the players. We gutted it , put up lockers and dropped the ceiling. Total, we probably spent about $20,000 to $25,000," Woods said. "Well, that was really nice, the only problem was when we realized the women athletes didn't have that." "At the time. I didn't really think of that. Ti tie lX wasn't really with us yet sitting on our doorst ep. It wasn't a cognitive thing we did . It was just we had the money. let's do thi , " Woods added. To remedy the situation , Woods has met with schoo l officials and plans are being made for the possi ble renovation of the women's locker room facilities. "I know we're go ing to be talk ing about mon ey and that 's okay. l think this needs to be corrected," Woods said . The second correc tion that must be made before Palomar can be considered in full compliance with Title IX is also the biggest.concern nationwide for college athletic programs, Woods said. Currently, the male to female athlete ratio for Palomar's athletics is 35 percent female and 65 per cent male . Title IX states that in order to achieve full gender equa lity, a sc hool' s ath letic program must have a male to female ratio
see TITLE IX, page 3
ASG attends annual ·caISACC gathering
,~
■
Six officers and two students · attend conference Tom Chambers Editor -in-Chief
Six members of the Associated Student Government and two additional students attended the annua l Ca lifornia Student Association of Com munity Co lleges (Ca!SACC) legis lativ e co nfer ence April 23 through April 25. The conference, held in San Francisco, focused on providing commu nit y college education to everyo ne for free, according to VMoody Wasif, ASG senator and vice president of state affairs e lect. "They (CalSACC) want to lower tuition fees next year, and in five or six years reduce the cost to noth ing," Wasif said. Ca !SACC is seek ing to do this without taking funds from chi ld care and financial aid . Four students who are not members of the ASG applied to attend the conference . Two of those stu-
dents were approved to go and participate in the meeting of the Black Ca ucu s. The two stude nts, Jose Cartagena and Zeda Barnett, are both members of the Palomar Pan African Student Movement. ASG Vice President of Social Events Elaine James was elected chair of the Black Cauc us Southern Region. Wasif said he enjoyed the work~hops offered at the conference. " It was a great co nference," he said . "There were 50 workshops and you could go to five. " Wasif attended workshops on parliamentary procedure, grassroots lobbyin g, and Proposition 98. He said the workshop on grassroo ts lobb yi ng was the best. "It was about how to comm unicate on cam pus ," Wasif said. "A nd how to kill apathy." Ca !SACC lobbies for the California's 1.4 million commun ity co llege students in Sacramento. The association also helps student leaders learn how to lobb y and be more effec tive leaders on their campus es. Local studen t govern ment s support CalSACC through dues and participa tion.
Saul D. l'epis / Tfie Telescop,
Palomar student Shannon Dixon cringes as she gives blood at the Red Cross blood drive in the Student Union on Wednesday, April 28.
Speech teain garners Dustin Schwindt Staff' Writer
The Palomar Co llege Speech Team made a strong showing at the week -long Junior Co llege National Speech and Debate Tournament in Milwaukee, Wisc . Josh Fleming led the team in awards and was ranked second in the nation in overa ll points. Fleming, who recently received a full scholarship to Northern Arizona University , finished just two points behind the nationa l champion who happened to be a student at Orange Coast Community College. "It couldn 't have happened to a nicer guy," Flemi ng said . During seve n days of intense compe tition , Fleming advanced to the finals four Limes, a feat, that accord ing to Ray Dahlin, the team coach, is not easy to accomplish. "What Josh did was abso lutely incredible ," Dahlin said. F leming took the gold in both the Speech to Entertain cate gory and the
Programmed Oral [nterpretation. Flem ing was also awarded two silver medals , one of which he won while partnered with Sarah Zubec in the Duo Interpretation Competition. F leming was impressed with Zubec 's performance because it was her first time compet ing. "I was proud," Fleming said, "We worked really hard." Sharing in Fleming's feeling of pride was Assis tant Coach Shelton Hill. "I was very happy," Hill said , "particularly with Josh." While at the tournament, Hill was elected regional governor and will represent Southern Californ ia for the national forensics organization Phi Rho Pi. Dahlin also had a reason to feel proud whi le in Milwaukee. Af ter being with Palomar ' s speech team for over 30 years and being a part of seven national champi onship teams, Dahlin was recog nized by the Phi Rho Pi fraternity by having a scholarship named after him . In October, the speec h team com -
a\Vards peted in Fresno, not only against oth"r junio r colleges, but against universities as well. Palomar beat out all of the 25 other schools and won sweepstakes for the entire tour➔ nament. Dahlin had hoped to achieve a simi lar victory in Milwaukee , but because of recent budget prob lems, was only ab le to bring eight members of the team to the tournament. Despite the small size of the team, Palomar placed 13th out of the 90 schoo ls competing. Althoug h Fleming was the big winner for the team, other members of the team helped in contributing to the medal count. Keith Sobarnia took home the bronze for Lincoln /Douglas Debate and M ichelle Peace also was awarded a bron ze for Persuasive Speech. ''I was honored to have gotten into the finals becau se the competition was so hard," Peace said. For every member of the team, the tournament served as a learning experien ce . "It was really stressful but really fun." Julie Prosin said.
52,
N UM BER
21
ESL program
feeling pains of growth Sean O'Connor Staff Writer
The English as a Second Language program, also known as ESL, is among the fastest growi ng educational programs in the country. The purpose of the ESL program is to teach English to those whose mother tongue is not English. But it differs from regular English instruction because the instruction also helps the students make a transition to American society. Instructors do this in two ways. First, they learn the cultural habits and background of the students. Second, they familiarize ESL students to American holi days, customs , and routines, which some native English speakers take as a matter of course. Many immigrants take ESL courses. In the San Diego area, this means mostly people with Hispanic backgrounds, but in almost every ESL class many ethnic gro ups are also represented. Foreign exchange students from other coun tries also study ESL in order to continue studies at Palomar. The ESL program at Palomar, like other ESL programs in the country, is suffering from growing pains and overflowing classrooms. Moody Wasif, an ESL student from Egypt, said, "Lots of people are trying to get into the classes, but the classrooms are too small. At least lO students are turned away each semester in some classes ... there is a waiting list for stu dents wanting to get into the ESL program." Wasif is also the newly elected vice president of state affairs for the Associated Student Government. Peter Mojica, former ASG vice president/chairperson of the InterClub Council, said ESL students walk by classrooms that are much bigger and see fewer students in them. The ESL students wonder why they cannot switch classrooms. "Some of the classrooms are small," Katheryn Garlow, associ ate professor and chairperso n of the ESL Department, sa id. Sometimes larger classrooms are ava ilab le one day and not another, thus rendering the classroom useless fo r an ESL class, she sa id. "The problem of spaces and times is not an easy one to solve," she said abo ut ESL scheduling. Garlow said Gene Jackson, dean of arts and languages, went out of his way to find two classrooms in the Student Union for the current academic year. "These spaces are really conference rooms, not class rooms , and the numb er of students who can fit into these rooms is limited. But classes are now being offered to ESL students that were not offered last year, " Garlow said. Jackson has given anot her classroom to the ESL Department for the upcoming fall semester. This classroom, F-10, will permit 50 additiona l students to enroll in the ESL program , Garlow said. "From my perspective, the administration here has bent over backwards to help the ESL
see ESL, page 3