Cheaters never prosper? More than 90 cases of cheating were reported last year at CRC. English professor David Weinshilboum calls the academic dishonesty a “real tragedy.” >> Page 2
Volume 61, Issue 2
www.theCRCconnection.com
February 28, 2013
CLASS SPOTLIGHT
CAMPUS PULSE
Transfer degrees gain momentum Martial arts By Elizabeth Witt ewitt.connect@gmail Each semester, students from Cosumnes River College and other lower division institutions transfer to four-year universities to complete their bachelor’s degree after fulfilling lower-division requirements established by the schools they are hoping to attend. It’s a long process, however some students are choosing a different path by completing one of several offered Associate Degrees for Transfer, recognized in a media briefing by California Community Colleges Deputy Chancellor Erik Skinner on Feb. 20, as an “important development in public
California higher education, [and] a great partnership between the California Community Colleges and the California State Universities.” “It’s a clarified pathway so students, when they are working on their lower division work, know exactly what they need to do to prepare for transfer in a given discipline to any one of the CSUs,” Skinner said. The Associate Degrees for Transfer, products of Senate Bill 1440 passed in September of 2010, are fairly new degrees offered in seven majors that CRC students can work towards in order to meet transfer requirements for the CSU system, an option also known as the 1440 pathway. The seven transfer degrees currently
being offered at CRC are sociology, math, psychology, communication studies and physics, with the new additions business administration and theatre arts, according to the CRC 2012-2013 college catalog. Though there are a limited number of degrees being offered for transfer at CRC in the 2012-2013 school year, Fowler said there are a number of them being reviewed and the Curriculum Committee is hoping to have many more degrees by the fall 2014 semester. “These degrees are basically minimal preparation to transfer to a CSU,” said Lynn Fowler, the articulation director at CRC. The difference between an associate
>>Transfer | Page 3
ATHLETICS FOCUS Sophomore first baseman Allison Barsetti warms up with the infielders before their game against Fresno City College on Feb. 23. Barsetti is a team captain on the softball team and said she hopes to lead by example. Stephan Starnes | The Connection
What makes an effective leader in sports?
Coaches and players weigh in on the qualities they want in a leader on and off the field By Stephan Starnes sstarnes.connect@gmail In the first game of Cosumnes River College’s softball three-way contest with San Mateo College and Fresno City College on Feb. 23, there was already a damper on the day for the home team. In the fifth inning of CRC’s first game, with the Hawks still up to play Fresno later in the day, San Mateo scored five runs. It’s easy for a team to lose its spirit in such a situation, and doing so would darken their mood going into their second game a few hours later. However, the women kept up their
energy and their game chants were loud as ever. A big part of the team’s spirit is invested in the team captain. Allison Barsetti, sophomore pitcher and a team captain for the Hawks, does her best to keep her team’s spirits high in situations like this. “I always try to keep cheering our cheers,” Barsetti said. “I try to pick up people individually by saying ‘oh man, you did this great,’ ‘you looked good out there,’ ‘man you made a good play,’ stuff like that.” Being a part of a sports team means that you’re a part of a larger entity, and that you’re not just in it for yourself. However, each team does need to have players that separate themselves from the pack. Cosumnes River College’s softball head coach Kristy Schroeder said that picking the right leaders is “extremely important” for the team. “You have to have some sort of captain everyone feels comfortable with,” Schroeder said. “The coach and players both pick.” Schroeder made sure to emphasize the importance of players agreeing with their captains, but that the coach needs to guide
the leaders. “If you want the culture of the team to be positive and sound, you need the traits of carrying on what coaches want,” Schroeder said. Schroeder said that a team leader is someone who “inspires, holds people and themselves accountable, plays with passion and heart and has good communication.” Barsetti said that the qualities that make her stand out as a leader is her determination to do better. She followed by saying that she is one of the team’s main pitchers and someone that the team looks to. “I always give my all every single game,” Barsetti said. “And I’m always striving for more.” Cesar Plasencia, head coach of the women’s soccer team, agreed that a leader must hold themselves accountable, even before their teammates. Plasencia also said that leaders have to be an example outside of athletics. He believes that a leader must be an example “academically, as well as athletically.” Baseball head coach Tony Bloomfield
>>Leadership | Page 4
philosophy teaches brain over brawn By Scott Redmond sredmond.connect@gmail
Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Jet Li are just a few names that probably come to mind when the words martial arts are mentioned in casual conversation, along with a visual of people punching and kicking their way through any problems that come their way. Martial arts is about fighting and defeating other people after all, right? Professor Rick Schubert and his Honors 364 students might beg to differ. That’s because they are part of a class only offered once every two years called philosophy of the martial arts. “[It] allows me to pursue the two central interests of my life simultaneously: martial arts and philosophy,” Schubert said. “I started training martial arts when I was 6 years old and when I was a teenager I became interested in the intellectual foundations of traditional martial arts practice.” Unlike traditional lecture classes “the students are as responsible as the instructor for the presentation of “When I was the course material,” Schubert a teenager I said. became With it beinterested in ing an honors students the intellectual class, that are enrolled foundations within the class must also be of traditional part of the Honmartial arts ors Program to stay enrolled in practice.” the class. The Honors Program is “specifi—Rick Schubert Professor cally designed for academically a c c omp l i s h e d students and for those students with the potential for high achievement,” according to the Honors Program website. “The course is an honors seminar, and honors seminars at CRC are designed to provide students with a freshman seminar experience,” Schubert said. “Ultimately we want to train students so they can engage in the scholarly process and in the seminar, the freshman seminar, we give students a peek ahead at what it will be like to be graduate students.” The course syllabus describes the class as providing “both the opportunity to appreciate the eastern philosophical underpinnings of an activity that has become part of mainstream American Culture and the opportunity to experience the rigorous application of contemporary analytic academic philosophical methodology.” While the use of martial arts in the title might bring some different images to the mind of many, those that have enrolled within the class were not of that mindset. “I think actually I’m going to learn >>Philosophy | Page 7