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The Independent Student Voice of Mt. Hood Community College
March 14, 2014
MHCC students visit
Today is the last day to withdraw from college
Athletics, activities budgets win final ASG approval
Hai i
by Katelyn Hilsenbeck The Advocate
Graphic by Heather Golan - The Advocate
by Greg Leonov The Advocate Seven MHCC nursing students will leave Oregon for Haiti on Saturday to assist caregivers in a clinic for eight days, gaining valuable experience providing healthcare on an international level. The group will head to a village called Gramothe, about 12 miles south of Portau-Prince, and near the epicenter of the Caribbean island country’s devastating January 2010 earthquake, said Ida Jefsen, president of Mt. Hood’s Student Nurses Association (SNA). The earthquake killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced another 1.5 million, many of whom became homeless, said Christina Elford, SNA vice president. The traveling party consists of volunteers who have teamed up with Mountaintop Ministries. “It is a faith-based organization, but (it doesn’t) require the people who come and volunteer to adhere to any kind of religious doctrine,” Jefsen said. The students plan to provide health-
care and other services to as many Haitians as possible. They will need to be prepared to deal with a very high level of poverty. “Haiti is one of the top 10 poorest countries in the world, and (inhabitants) live, literally, right off the coast of Florida,” said Elford. “It’s hard to understand when you’re the richest country in the world, and even the poorest of our poor are in some ways richer than people in Haiti.” Haitians lack day-to-day basic healthcare necessities. “(If) you live in a country where if you need a Band-Aid and you don’t have any, and nobody has any BandAids, that puts things into a different perspective,” said Jefsen. The students have prepared for their trip by watching YouTube videos and reading books. “I’m reading a book called ‘Mountains Beyond Mountains’ that gives you at least a bit of a political background regarding how Haiti is now,” said Katie Stevens. “There’s only so much you can do.” Reading and hearing stories about
Profile of the month:
working in poverty stricken countries overseas doesn’t prepare students as much as prior experience, which the students lack. “I feel like emotionally preparing yourself for the trip is impossible,” said Jefsen. “You can watch as many videos and movies — accounts from people that have been there — I just don’t think any of that’s gonna do anything, until we go there ourselves.” MHCC instructors have mentored the group, warning that due to lack of needed supplies, they will be unable to fully treat many people. “They need scans or imaging services that are not available,” Jefsen said. “So, sometimes what you have to do is give someone ibuprofen and tell them to go home, but in the back of your head, you know that they have maybe a few months to live.”
Haiti
Continued on page 6
Recognizing deserving students at the recommendation of MHCC staff
Public safety officer ‘dedicated’ by Danny Perez-Crouse The Advocate “There is not a more dedicated, supportive and admirable student.” These words from Cherilyn Nederhiser, MHCC lead Public Safety Officer, describe a student who works to keep the school safe while pursuing his education. Nathan Long was a Public Safety volunteer since Winter Term 2012, on top of being a fulltime student. In the most recent fall term, he became a full-fledged Public Safety officer. “I’ve been really honored to be asked to do it,” he said. As a volunteer for Public Safety, Long’s duty was to patrol the campus and keep an eye
out for anything strange. He said the work was pretty fun — most of the time. He got a lot of good exercise during his shifts and met a lot of new people. He also found it rewarding to help make sure the campus was safe. Long said that he is rarely afraid to lay down the law. “There were instances where I had to tell people that they couldn’t smoke, and some would get upset. I have to let them know that I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them,” he said. He made sure to choose his words carefully, so he didn’t upset anyone.
POTM
Continued on page 6
Nathan Long
Volume 49 Issue 21
After much deliberation, the 2014-15 MHCC student activities and athletics budget has been finalized. The ASG Senate voted unanimously Thursday to adopt the budget, after ASG administrators gave their unanimous approval on Tuesday. The votes capped a difficult process this winter. Each student program was asked to decrease its proposed budget by 17 percent to reflect the anticipated (and ongoing) decrease in MHCC enrollment and the resulting drop in student fees that pay for athletics and activities. ASG hosted two budget forums on March 3 and 6 to present the budget package that student groups had submitted to the Student Finance Council. The Council approved the athletics budget on Feb. 13 and the activities budget on Feb. 20. The forums offered community members – including Mt. Hood students, faculty and staff – the opportunity to comment on the collective decisions made by students who represented their programs. ASG retains the right to alter the budget based on those public comments, but no changes were made at the Tuesday or Thursday meetings. The budget will be reviewed by Robert Cox, MHCC dean of Student Success and Enrollment Management, and the school’s budget office before being presented to the MHCC District board. Jonathan Beaman, ASG director of finance and Student Finance Council facilitator, said most questions asked at last week’s forums were focused on policy. However, 48 students asked why the budget for the Forensics program (speech and debate) was not reduced more drastically, since the program’s funding has mostly held steady since the 2008-09 school year, while others have suffered larger cutbacks. The Forensics budget for 2014-15 is currently $31,760, down just $4,214 from the current year. Beaman explained that when Mt. Hood’s enrollment spiked (following the economic downturn in 2007-08), the Forensics budget did not swell at the same rate as those for other programs. Meantime, nine students protested the impact of the mandated reductions on ASG itself, Beaman said. They complained it was “not fair that ASG had to cut so much,” he said. The ASG administration decreased its budget by $52,000 for the 2014-15 school year, a decline of nearly 29 percent. When ASG was reviewing its budget proposal, Beaman asked the group to not dwell on the “number shock.” He said Laura Aguon, current ASG president who represented ASG during the Finance Council review, knew what she was doing and that ASG can function on the budget amount approved. Elsie Praeger, ASG chief of staff and junior representative during the process, explained the significant cuts to student government were intended to ease the burden on other activities. Four students at the forum questioned why the student Senate retained a large sum of money. Aguon explained the Senate funds are made available to various activities and clubs who might request assistance. As student activity groups see cutbacks, they have the opportunity to offset them with money from Senate, she said. Beaman said it “took a little bit of convincing” to reassure students at the forum the Senate’s budget is “available to them.” The athletics budget did not receive unanimous approval during Finance Council review, Beaman noted. After cutbacks were adopted, an additional $2,700 surfaced that was to be returned to the budget. Debate arose on whether the money should be folded into individual sports’ budgets or into the Assigned Athletics account managed by Kim Hyatt, MHCC athletics director. Ultimately, the funds were placed in the Assigned Athletics account. Softball representatives voted against the budget plan. David Sussman, MHCC manager of Student Union and specialized student services and the administrator who oversees the annual Finance Council proceedings, said the team did not oppose final athletics allocations but believed the overall budget-balancing process had been rushed. Sussman said that athletics representatives were “much more involved this year” than during previous Finance Council deliberations.
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