35th birthday fun and games, pg. 8
Karrissa Rodriguez • Staff Photographer
April 6, 2009
ACC proposes a broad prohibition of smoking Adam Oliphant
Staff Writer
Smoking a quick cigarette before class might become more difficult for students if ACC’s administration decides to change smoking policies. The Administrative Service Council (ASC) is scheduled to vote on this issue at their next meeting on April 23 at the ACC Service Center. The ASC will consider adding language to the policy, which would end all on-campus smoking by Aug. 31, 2011. The ACC Student Government Association is conducting a student survey to gauge opinions on this matter. The survey ends April 3, and the results will be submitted to the ASC. “It makes me mad,” said David Dunkin, Phi Theta Kappa president. “How can the administration say it is a goal of the college to ban smoking when they haven’t even seen if designated smoking area’s work on most campuses?” Some campuses, including the South Austin Campus, do have designated smoking areas. “I think that designated smoking areas work very well. Occasionally people smoke in non-designated areas, but that’s usually because they usually don’t know they exist,” said SAC Campus Manager Betsy Erwin. “I would say that 95 percent of smokers follow the rules and do not cause any problems.” The feasibility of having a full smoking ban is also being called into question. “It will cause class interruptions,” Dunkin said. “Ten minutes is not enough time for someone to walk off campus, smoke a cigarette, and get to their next class, and students will continue to smoke between classes.” The proposed ban could also be difficult to enforce. “When ACC District Police Officers observe smoking in prohibited areas, the smokers
are requested to comply with the rule,” said Chief Frankie Waller. However, ACC police to do not have the authority to write tickets to persons who continue to smoke because there is no state statute that prohibits smoking outside college campuses. “Students who continue to smoke in prohibited areas will be referred to the dean of students for appropriate administrative action according to the internal disciplinary policies of ACC,” Waller said. The Full-time Faculty Senate is in support of the smoking ban with 64.4 percent in favor of the ban. The Classified Employee Association, which is made up mostly of the non-teaching employees at ACC were largely in favor of allowing smoking in designated areas. “Students smoking at ACC only affect me when I walk between the Annex and the Main building at Rio Grande. I only avoid walking on the corridor because the cigarette smoke triggers my asthma,” computer science major Nicole Smith said. “This is a suggested date that would give the ACC community time to transition to a smoke-free environment, giving groups like Human Resources, Student Life, and SGA time to promote the changes and also offer assistance like cessation workshops,” Brette Lea, executive director of public information and college marketing, said. The ASC is still gathering information and debating the issue. Executive Vice President of Business Services Ben Ferrell said that “Designated areas seem to be a reasonable compromise reached through much discussion. There seems to be general consensus that this is the way to go, and if followed responsibly (designated smoking areas) will continue in the future.”
www.theAccent.org
Volume 2, Issue 4
Presidential photos create controversy
Christopher Smith • Staff Photographer
Obama posters decorate the floor of Frank Taylor’s office before administration reversed their decision. The posters were removed on Feb. 26 and ACC formally reversed their decision on March 26.
While formal policy is being debated, original decision to remove posters has been reversed Christopher A. Smith Staff Writer
The decision to have posters of President Obama and Michelle Obama removed from the walls of administrative offices on the Riverside Campus and other ACC offices was formally reversed Thursday, March 26. Until a new policy is crafted, the posters of President Obama will be allowed on the walls of the administrative offices. “After we received numerous calls from employees expressing concern about their inability to show pictures of our new President, the president (of ACC) decided to revisit the issue,” said Gerry Tucker, vp of human resources for ACC, at a meeting of concerned citizens at Carver Library. The four posters, enlarged copies of Ebony magazine covers with pictures of the president alone and with Michelle Obama, were taken down after an anonymous letter questioning whether it was legal or ethical to have posters of President Obama on ACC property was sent to the administration on Feb. 24. Based on the recommendations of the administration’s legal counsel, the posters were removed on Feb. 26. “Unfortunately we followed that advice,” said Tucker, “we are trying to reverse that and do the right thing.” Frank Taylor, campus manager for Riverside Campus, hung the posters on the walls of his administrative office at Riverside on Feb. 1.
Taylor said he believed the posters promoted “hope and gave motivation to a community of students that I feel need that type of motivation and inspiration.” Because February was Black History Month, he assumed it was appropriate to hang posters of the first black president. Since the posters were enlargements of Ebony magazine covers and did not mention politics, Taylor said he did not believe they promoted or supported any particular party or political ideology. “I never anticipated that we would be asked to take them down,” said Taylor. Taylor received the anonymous letter questioning the legality of the posters on Feb. 24 along with Dr. Stephen Kinslow president of ACC, and the members of the board of trustees. The letter asked the administration to consider whether the posters violated Subsection 556.0004c of the Texas Government Code and stated that “ACC facilities never displayed a poster … glowingly supporting George Bush’s election.’ After meeting with ACC’s legal counsel, the administration decided that the posters should be removed. On Feb. 26 Taylor complied with the administration’s decision and took the posters down. The speed with which administration reacted to the anonymous letter and the idea that pictures of the president of the United States could not be displayed on campus caused Continued From pg. 1
ȩȩ Obama continued on page 3
Despite federal law, ACC not reporting timely crime info Crime logs are not completed, not compliant Sarah Neve
Editor in Chief
Trevor Goodchild• Staff Photographer
Debra Stewart pre-pharmacy major smokes a cigarette in front of ACC.
Former ACC student Rita Pena was stabbed in 2006 by ACC student Reginald Cooper, whom she did not know. She was trying to get in her car, parked at a meter just off ACC Rio Grande Campus. She was leaving her ACC math class. ACC Officer Joanna Weaver found Pena on the ground while patrolling near the campus. According to ACC Police Chief Frankie Waller this was not an ACC crime.
This is one example of several ways that the ACC campus police are potentially out of compliance with federal guidelines set up to keep college campuses safe. In an arguable violation of the federal Clery Act, the college police department did not report this crime to the Department of Education in the required annual report. In a clear violation, the reports filed about this and other crimes are not readily accessible to students. Last semester, after prompting from The Accent, the college’s police department launched a website to start reporting daily crimes. This website was an attempt to satisfy requirements for the Clery Act. Under the Act, daily crime
logs are supposed to be a running account of crimes as they are reported. This is the biggest violation of the Act that ACC is committing. The law specifies that crimes have to be reported within two business days. The running crime log has to be available to students immediately for the 60 days prior, and any log from before those 60 days needs to be furnished within two business days of the request. As of March 31 that information was not available to the public. Currently ACC crime logs indicate that no crime has occurred since early November of last year. This is not because there hasn’t been a crime reported, but because the college police department
Photo Courtesy • Rita Pena
Former student Rita Pena. was stabbed near Rio Grande in 2006
has decided that they will only update the crime logs quarterly, according to Chief Waller. This means that the last 60 days of crime logs are not available to students. “Crimes have to be reported ȩȩ Clery continued on page 3