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BACK IN ACTION Soccer kicks off season with tie. • Pl&E 10
Speech budget slashed •1n half
Campus crowded despite lower enrollment By Kristal Davis
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Although it may not seem like it in the student parking lot, Palomar's student enrollment is currently down from last fall. At this time Palomar College is at 23,401 students as opposed to last fall's number of 24,898. This seems, in part, to be a state trend according to Cindy Sabato, director of communications. "This is a statewide occurrence similar to what we are seeing across the state," she said. Reasons differ for the decrease. The biggest impact is the tuition increase, from $18 per unit to $26. While this may not have affected all students, for some it may have been the deciding factor. Palomar student Brian BronsonBrenzel agrees with this theory, "Although it didn't affect how many units I took, I can see how it could discourage other students from enrolling, especially part-time students who only take a few units at a time." Neighboring MiraCosta College is also down this semester. Currently MiraCosta's enrollment is at 9,806 students as opposed to last fall's 10,058.This drop in enrollment was expected, said Kim Collins, Mira Costa's Attendance Accountant Specialist. ''We were concerned about how the tuition increase would affect our enrollment," she said. However, officials were optimistic that a possible late registration might bring numbers up, said Dick Robertson, Mira Costa's Vice President of Student Services. ''We were hoping it would be up, but it didn't materialize. We didn't have as many late registrants as we thought. We think it may be due in part to the fee
By Rachel Keeler
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MillO IINO I THE TELESCOPE
FALL 03 24,898
FALL 04 24,140
increase." The tuition increase is not the only reason for the decrease, said Sabato. There are several, less obvious factors. The first was the lack of basic general education classes such as English, math, and sci-
Students use campus computers in the admissions building to register for the fall semester. Enrollment is down 3% from last fall. A number of factors are responsible for the drop.
ence, despite the recent addition of 70 more of these core classes. Several months of pessimistic news coverage about the state budget also • SEE ENROLLMENT, PAGE 3
In a special meeting Aug. 19, the Associated Student Government unanimously voted to revise their completed 2004-2005 budget to create a new special reserve fund with money taken from several special accounts. The most severe cut was from the speech and debate team whose budget of $8,000 was cut in half to provide $4,000 of the total $6,050 reserve fund. The music activity account was reduced from $6,750 to $5,000, and dance and drama were both reduced to $3,000 from $3,150. Groups go to ASG throughout the year with unexpected monetary requests, said Paul Charas, ASG .President. He proposed the creation of the account so money could be dispensed more prudently. For the speech and debate • SEE BUDGET, PAGE 7
Police issue 100 tickets~ then offer refunds By Andrew fhelps
Political science professor looking to unseat Is sa for 49th Congressional seat By John Asbury
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JOHN ASBURY I THE TELESCOPE
Political Science professor Mike Byron is running for Congress.
Another busy day on the trail finds campaign Congressional candidate and Palomar professor, Mike Byron making a stop at Democratic campaign headquarters. Dressed in a USA cap and a "Byron for Congress" pin, he's on a tight schedule. Mter teaching his political science class he's en-route to another
round of door-to-door stops to get his name out to the voting public and layout his platform in hopes of becoming the U.S. representative for the 49th district of California. In a district that is made up of more than 170,000 voters, stretching from south Riverside County to Oceanside and northeast San Diego County, Byron faces a challenge. Taking on Rep. Darrell Issa, Byron is determined to charge ahead
until Election Day, Nov 2. Mter teaching political science for 20 years, Byron said he realized that what he was teaching wasn't how government actually works. What he taught in the classroom was the traditional, yet archaic principles that government was by the people and for the people. However, after working on
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Apparent vandalism and confusion over signs led to dozens of parking tickets for Palomar College students during the second week of classes. Sgt. Mike Vafeados estimated police wrote up more than 100 tickets the week of Aug. 30 for illegal parking in the dirt lots near the back entrance of the San Marcos campus. Police later suspended the citations and offered dismissals when they discovered the yellow caution tape around
• SEE BYRON, PAGE 2
A RmOSPECTIVE
HERE TO HELP
Dns lotlllllrtists risws shown in 1111 sxhibit.
Tutoring tsntBt m11kss suttsss possibls.
• Pl&E 8
• SEE POLICE, PAGE 9
• PI&E 6