Issue 11, Volume 50

May.18.2016

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thecurrent the student newspaper of green river college

Trades Building in Trouble page 2

Courtesy | Sam Ball

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Faculty Vote to Go on Strike, Not Yet Approved by Union Board

Diversity and Equity Celebrated at Conference

Read an International Student’s Perspective on Green River

Strife on Campus between Faculty and Administration Reaches Breaking Point

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Famous Speakers and workshops brought to Green River

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The toxic environment on campus is impacting international students

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2015-2016

Riley Agnew | Campus Editor campus@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

Faculty Threaten to Strike By: M. Kienan Briscoe A&E Editor Tense air permeated the halls of the faculty offices with picket signs resting against the open doors. They read “Tell the College…To Value US, To Listen To US, To Work With US. We want to make GRC better.”

Last Wednesday, May 11, President Ely confirmed the fear of many students and faculty alike – programs will be cut. The decision to do so has left many in question whether or not their programs will be existent next year, but more presently, whether a strike will be taking place in response.

A button reading “I don’t want to strike but I will,” is clipped to the shirt of Allison Jansen, head of the Political Science Department. She shares the belief of many faculty members that the budget crisis is artificial and there is no logical connection between cutting programs and saving money.

“The integrity of the college is at stake,” she said.

According to Timothy Scharks, head of the Geography department, one of the department’s proposed to close, Social Science classes have some of the largest caps ranging anywhere from 32-37 students per class. With more students comes more revenue for the college, and

with classes like geography filling up consistently there is a constant influx of money from the program.

Regardless of this fact, Scharks remained silent on whether, if a strike did occur, he would participate.

“I [just] need to worry about being the best employee I can,” he said. To Scharks, as the head and only member of the geography department, “there is more at stake.”

Last year, the Auto Body Technology program was eliminated, leaving Mark Millbauer, president of the union, without a job. The Auto Body building cost over $1 million alone to revert back to its original state. Now programs such as geography, drafting, and drama are on the line to be terminated.

Including occupational therapy, which is the oldest OTA program in Washington State and consists of a competitive acceptance process.

Many members of the existing OTA program already have bachelor’s degrees and have committed to the two year program after accepting loans. If the program were terminated, these students could not be accepted into another program and left with debt. The OTA program can add up to triple family income.

The full-time faculty has authorized the union board to strike with over 70 percent of votes from adjuncts. After a series of failed negotiations, two unconsidered votes of no confidence, performance

evaluations, and countless attempts at coming to a settlement diplomatically, faculty are left believing they are given no other options.

“I don’t want to go on strike…but it’s been pushed to a point where we don’t know what else to do,” Jamie Fitzgerald of the English department said.

If a strike were to occur, there is a chance that the faculty could be ordered back to work if the court determined the case was not strong enough; Such was the case in the last, and only, strike in Green River history in 1974. If that were to happen “we’ve sent the strongest message we can,” Fitzgerald said.

Many faculty members believe, even in the event of being court ordered back to work, that the act of a strike would bring attention from the governor and hopefully a reconsidering of the union’s demands.

As it stands, the only demand of the strike is to reverse the cuts of programs. It is the general consensus, amongst faculty members, that the program cuts are unnecessary and attributed to mismanagement of school budget.

Green River College spends more, both local and state generated, funding than any community college in the area, by about $100 million, according to Steve Kinholt.

Bellevue College has recently come close to rivaling this, yet half of their spending has gone to an

expensive dormitory project. Considering Bellevue is a larger college than Green River. Steve Kinholt, of the Math department, designed a way of measuring GRC’s spending compared to other colleges based off of dollars per student. In this tradition, GRC spends roughly $14,000 per student.

A large majority of GRC’s spending is locally generated, such as contracted projects, international programs and running start, but a large amount is also contributed to loans, so much that the school is estimated to remain in debt until 2029. Predating President Ely, spending averaged $1-2 million on building projects. In 2013, three years after Ely took her position, this has increase to $53 million.

Just two years after that, spending increased to $56 million. Projects include building a new Aviation facility, a new Auburn building, a Kent and Enumclaw campus, a new student center and a proposed remodel of the old Lindbloom building and Welcome Center. $15 million alone was borrowed to complete the Student Life Building, and an additional $5 million is estimated to be spent on remodeling its old location. “It’s nice to have new buildings,” Kinholt said, “but it’s nicer to have programs in them”.

If a strike were to occur, there would be no way of knowing until students showed up to school to a

picket line and empty classrooms.

The faculty union expressed there is a strategic benefit to the element of surprise rather than notifying students ahead of time. As of now it is ambiguous what that would mean to student’s grades or tuition but depending on how long the strike would last, operations would act as frozen until settled. The uncertainty has left many students, as well as faculty, distressed at the potential repercussions.

“If the strike were to continue passed June 10, I wouldn’t be able to get the political science credit I need and potentially get held back a year,” Cameron Braun said. Braun is a full-time running start student who depends upon completing American Government class to graduate from High School.

The Kent Education Association will be attending a meeting today, Wednesday May 18, to discuss whether the United Faculty Coalition of the AFT will call a strike, among other issues. Pete Lewis, chairman of the GRC board, plans to attend. It is possible that, if a strike were called, the campus could see its effects as early as Wednesday. For any additional information on the strike, the school’s spending and budget or the cause of the unrest, students are welcome to visit the faculty website: unitedattheriver.com.

This graph shows the difference between Green River College’s state and local funding for Capital Projects. Capital Projects include new buildings, renovation, and construction. Graph courtesy of unitedattheriver.com

Riley Agnew | Campus Editor campus@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

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Trades, Technologies, Tragedy Trades Technologies Building Needs Almost Three Years to be Complete By: Michael Milat Staff Writer The new Trades Technologies building is still experiencing major growing pains even nine months after the doors have opened.

More specifically, the welding center is a brand-new building that covers 13,650 square feet, and it cost the college an estimated $6.5 million. The facility comes with many state-of-the-art features, but there are still many obstacles to overcome.

Here are just a few examples of some of the problems that the Trades Technologies building is currently facing or already has faced in the short nine months since its opening.

Although hands-on classes were set to start at the beginning of September, the building was not usable for the first three weeks of the quarter. Considering that a single quarter of classes in the welding program costs about $2,000, this

was a fairly substantial amount of money and time taken away from students.

There are currently plans to have the students make up the missed time in the Summer quarter.

The new building is built on top of a wetland that allows little to no water drainage during the rainy months. As a result, some rooms in the building became entirely unusable during the winter.

“Water would come up through the floor,” said welding instructor Scott Schreiber. “Teachers’ offices had an inch of standing water in them.”

As of the publish date of this article, the water drainage issue has not been resolved, and the welding students can expect more of the same water problems during the winter of 2017.

Another issue with the Trades Technology Building is the way that the workers wired the building’s electricity. The wiring caused such an electrical hazard to students that the building received an emergency shutdown earlier this year.

Schreiber’s program contacted the Green River College administration and the emergency committee to inspect the issue.

They determined that an “Emergency Shutdown” was necessary for the safety of the students in the building.

“What was happening is that the entire floor was acting like a ground, so if a student would touch metal while standing on the floor, they would complete the circuit,” Schreiber said.

The administration stepped up to the challenge and everyone worked to resolve the problem so that students could resume classes as soon as possible.

The Trades Technology Building currently doesn’t have the number of electrical outlets that was requested by Schreiber and his team.

“We need about 26 more outlets, which is necessary [to the welding program]”, he said.

The new welding booths are not big enough to fit two people inside them at one time. Schreiber pointed out that it is important to

be able to fit two people in a booth so that an instructor can demonstrate safe welding techniques to a student in real time.

Also, the installation of an inert-gas system was a promised feature to the building to help bring the welding department into the 21st century. The system is called ‘micro-bulking’ which means that CO2 and Argon gas is mixed on-site in order to make C25, the gas which is used for the actual welding.

The idea was to make the gas mixing process faster and easier for the next generation of welding students. In the past, the students had to spend time unloading gas cylinders off of trucks, move them around, and mix the two types of gas as needed for their class.

The goal of the new ‘micro-bulker’ was to cut out the manual aspect of moving tanks and mixing gas.

After the building was built, it became clear that this cutting-edge system could not be used due to mis-planning the amount of space needed for trucks to load and unload the required materials. In

addition, the components to mix the gas were not of adequate quality to even handle the needs of the welding department.

“The mixing system failed. We had to go back to the old system that we have used for the last 40 years,” Schreiber said.

To alleviate some of these issues, many of the students spent their winter break and spring break in the shop making fixes in order to get their building up to an adequate level of function and safety. According to Schreiber, each student has donated about 90 hours of work.

The students are getting reimbursed for time spent during spring break, but have yet to see a paycheck.

Looking ahead, Schreiber anticipates another two and a half years of work before the building will be functioning at one-hundred percent. But to reach that, the entire building needs to be improved from the ground up. It is unclear at this time how much the repairs will cost,

GRC Increases Social Media Presence By: Marie Kepler Staff Writer

Catherine Ushka, Green River College’s marketing and communications manager (Marcom), gave a presentation on GRC’s social media strategy.

Ushka stated that in order to reach today’s generation of students, social media must be utilized, and Green River College is no exception.

Ushka went on to explain that social media is an important part of a content marketing strategy. The college’s social media presence must provide stories and content that show voice.

Yet, what is GRC’s voice?

When Ushka asked members of the audience this question, phrases such as “familial”, “transformative”, “small class size”, and “goal-oriented” were

expressed by students.

As this represents the voice of the college, it makes sense that videos posted on the college’s Facebook page highlight non-traditional students achieving goals in a family oriented environment. Regardless of whether all individuals see this as a reality, Ushka emphasized that one’s “social media presence should be authentic” in order to be effective.

In addition to promotion of events on campus, the GRC Facebook page is also used for emergency communication, Ushka stated. This is prompted by the fact that the majority of students use Facebook and check it more frequently than other ways of communication.

Although the primary goal of social media seems simple enough, there are some difficulties with both implementation and supervision of the college’s social media voice.

For starters, there is the issue of attention. Ushka stated that attention spans are getting shorter and last for about 10-15 seconds. For this reason effective content is short, fast, and to the point limiting options for posts.

Secondly, Ushka pointed out that the college is liable for any content posted on its page.

If, for instance, an individual threatened to harm someone on a college’s Facebook page, and a representative of the college didn’t reply to that, they would be liable in the event that the harm occurred.

Ushka went on to state that the college presents its own branding. In order to keep it intact, all Green River Facebook pages should present that branding. The brand, like the voice, must be authentic and show that “Green River cares and represents” the students of the college through a

logo. Yet what is seen realistically is a large amount of Green River affiliated pages that are not easily identifiable as Green River affiliated pages.

The Facebook page for GRC’s student life doesn’t bear the school’s spirit mark (the iconic gator), and has a student designed logo. Ushka States that although this type of individuality and creativity is encouraged, there needs to be a way to unif y all groups as a part of Green River.

The last and coincidentally the largest concern is that of policy and the challenges it represents for social media postings. Ushka stated that the policy laws in Washington have changed so that a video cannot be taken in common areas without getting a release from every identifiable individual in the frame.

Additionally, if the post is made by anyone who is paid

with tax dollars then that post is public record. As a result if someone requested a certain date’s Facebook post then an employee of the college would have to find that post.

For students, this means that there is a fine line between making their personal social media as the presentation of the college.

Despite these difficulties, GRC plans on moving forward with their social media presence under the supervision of Assistant Director of College Relations, Phil Dunnam. Although the strategy of GRC’s social media is “continuing to emerge,” Ushka stated that it is certain to maintain the authenticity and unique branding, which is so important for the college’s identity.

The GRC logo used on Social Media.

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Campus Crime Blotter Campus Safety responded to the following incidents from May 6 to May 10, among others. All information is from Campus Safety incident reports.

The Current has been informed of an armed robbery occurring on campus, but no information from Campus Safety has been provided yet.

5/6 9:43 a.m.

Parking Lot Suspicious Person

Campus Safety was informed of a suspicious car in the parking lot and dispatched a safety officer to investigate. The vehicle was occupied by a man and a woman and had already been stopped by another safety officer. The suspects claimed they were mother and son and their vehicle had broken down. Both of the suspects claimed to be from Nevada, though only the mother was able to produce an ID. The Auburn Police Department was contacted and the suspect’s names were run through their database. The suspect’s information came back and the son had a $35 thousand warrant out for his arrest for failure to register as a sex offender. Auburn police took the suspect into custody and the mother was informed that if she did not move their vehicle within 24 hours it would be impounded.

5/6 10 a.m.

Cedar Hall Disturbance

A safety officer was exiting Cedar Hall when he was flagged down by a vehicle driving past. The passenger of the vehicle said they were waiting in the parking lot when a person approached them.

When the suspect reached their vehicle he began yelling and harassing the passenger. He then took a picture of the vehicle’s license plate. As the safety officer was speaking with the victim, he noticed a man observing them from the doorway to Cedar Hall. The victim identified the man as the suspect and he quickly fled into the building. The safety officer followed and found the suspect in a classroom. He identified himself as the instructor and said he was telling the students to get out of the staff parking spaces. The victim said she worked in Cedar Hall but did not have a staff parking pass yet. The safety officer took her information and left the scene.

5/10 2 p.m.

Parking Lot Robbery

Campus Safety was informed of a robbery which occurred in the parking lot. A witness said to Campus Safety that she was driving through the parking lot when she saw a man smashing the drivers side window of a vehicle with a crowbar.

The suspect took a purse out of the vehicle and drove away towards the Campus Corner Apartments.

On that same day, there was another report to Campus Safety of a robbery in the parking lot.

Safety officers arrived on the scene and spoke with the victim. She said she was walking back to her vehicle to take a break. When she reached her car she noticed a man looking into the driver side window. The victim said to the man, “You’ve got the wrong car.” The suspect turned towards her with an angry look on his face and then proceeded to smash the window with a rod. After breaking the window and taking the victim’s bag, the suspect ran towards a vehicle and drove away. The victim yelled for help while memorizing the suspect’s license plate.

Riley Agnew | Campus Editor campus@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

Farewell to the Ridwan Ibrahim ASGRC President Finishing Term By: Mati Lund Staff Writer Ridwan Ibrahim is the current student government president at Green River College, she ran for this position in 2015 with hopes to make GRC a more comfortable place for students.

“Last year when I was campaigning,” said Ibrahim “…I campaigned a lot about safety everything sort of was around safety and how I could improve safety on campus.”

Around campus, in the parking lots and by CCA, there is safety buttons that you can push in case of emergency’s when students or staff needs fast assistance.

Ibrahim along with many students at GR did not know that we had these extremely useful tools, including the online red flag help button in which students or staff can report (anonymously if need) emergencies or suspicious behavior.

Ibrahim said when she was campaigning she went around campus and interacted with students asking them if they knew GRC had these helpful resources, at which most of them did not realize these options were available.

Ibrahim tried to come up with a way to get this information out to students in a manner at which attendees at GRC would feel inclined to read if presented.

“I tried to work with campus safety about that,” said Ibrahim “…we talked a lot about that in our summer training as well, we had a lot of campus safety people come in.”

Ibrahim said that during a senate meeting for the student government, the director of campus safety came to join the meeting. He introduced himself and Ibrahim along with her co members presented ideas to improve the safety of attendants around campus.

Along with all the change regarding safety, Ibrahim also helped put together a forum for students and staff regarding the PPP and budget process that in the last couple of months has become a heated topic of argument here at GRC. “A lot of things with faculty, staff and students,” said Ibrahim “…just currently happened at the beginning of this quarter end of last quarter.”

“Me along with college council and student government wanted to come up with a way that we could help them understand more about the budget process and what’s happening right now.” said Ibrahim.

Ibrahim along with another member of the college council proposed to president Ely that this forum should be available to students.

After President Ely said yes, the student council conducted the first successful forum on April 20th, 2016, right before the board of trustees meeting.

“I sort of did that on purpose,” said Ibrahim “just so that before the board of trustees meeting came a lot of students could have more clarity on what’s happening.”

Ibrahim said, “During that time, a lot of students came in with an open mind and they asked questions. I think it went pretty well.”

As of last week, Ibrahim and her council started to conduct a second forum for the use of students and faculty.

“The first forum that we had, the promotion wasn’t as good as hopefully this one because it was very last minute and a week before the time that we wanted to have it, so we couldn’t actually promote it as well.” said Ibrahim.

Ibrahim sent out invites to some

of the board members at GRC as well as a mass email to all student.

Ibrahim said that she hopes people feel inclined to come and get any questions they have answered in a helpful manner.

“I think those are one of my biggest accomplishments, having the forum,” said Ibrahim “because this budget process is crazy and there’s a lot of things that students don’t know, a lot of things that maybe are hidden from us or maybe not and we don’t know that.”

Ibrahim said that just getting small information from anybody whether it be staff, administration or faculty can be extremely helpful.

Ibrahim is nineteen years old and was born in Kenya. Following her sixth birthday she moved to Maine and just about five years ago flew across the United States to live here in Washington.

While she was in high school she started in the Running Start Program here at GRC following with graduating from Kent Meridian high school in 2015.

Ibrahim is planning on applying for UW in next few months in hopes to participate in international studies.

At the end of this spring quarter Ibrahim will be stepping down as ASGRC president and passing the title over to Patricia Argie.

On Friday, May 20 there will be another Open Forum between administration and students. This forum is sponsored by the ASGRC and the administration panel will feature President Eileen Ely, Derek Brandes, and Shirley Bean. The forum will be held in the Student Affairs Building at 12:30.

The panel members will be accepting questions from anyone.

Features

thecurrent

Riley Agnew | Features Editor campus@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

5 2015-2016

New Trades Journal Debuts First Issue By: Nicholas Pace Guest Writer

In partnership with The Current, Gator Tech Life’s mission will be to encourage students pursuing career paths in STEM to practice publishing the work as though they were submitting their research papers and/or new insights of their chosen field for a trade periodical or journal. It is my personal hope that students reading my work will be inspired to report about the GRC education which leads to their career paths.

In this premiere issue, Aviation, Drafting and Design, Engineering, Information Technologies, and Natural Resources were featured from my reporting, copy-editing, and some photography (additional photography from students Austin Reynolds, Bella McFarland, and faculty Sheila Capps).

The idea for this publication was first introduced by the Dean of Technology and Trades, Josh Clearman, my work/study supervisor.

One day he asked if I could write a newsletter for the Technologies division. As a student with journalism background, I responded with, “sure,” and set off to work; no questions. In my zeal and drive to perfection, along with all the research and fact-checking that is required for such a task, I discovered this project had potential to outreach student activity in and out of the class, relevant to

students’ future careers.

Because of the past deadline, this new publication will not be a student club; however, it will be featured on The Current Website for reference.

If you are a student or faculty, and perhaps you want to feature a new piece of technology or methodology you’re using in or out of class to progress through your education, contact me and we’ll talk about publishing such trade news.

I prefer and encourage students to write about their subjects (since they know about them best), but I am happy to assist as editor and/or consultant and interviewer for any such story you believe should be given.

You’ll be practicing how to tell the world about what your trade of choice is to the layperson and practicing writing about it to your current and future peers and employers.

I am enrolled in GRC’s Computer Reporting Technologies program, working on my certification in CART (translation of speech to text in classroom settings). I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Writing and Cultural Studies from The Evergreen State College with an emphasis in Journalism, and I’ve interned in Olympia, WA for Works In Progress in 2007 and for The New Indian Express in 2008. I wrote my first and hopefully not my last trade journal article back in 2013 for the Journal of Court Reporting.

driven to

For more information about Gator Tech Life, visit www.thegrcurrent.com. Photo courtesy of Nicholas Pace.

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The Importance of Counseling By: Tatyana Anderson Guest Writer

Attend A trAnsfer InformAtIon sessIon! To register visit: www.uwb.edu/admissions/transfer

www.uwb.edu

425.352.5000

High stress levels in college students are caused by combination of an overwhelming college workload and personal issues.

That’s the view of Elizabeth Becker, Green River College counselor, who cited three specific stressors: balancing the demands of schoolwork with personal and work life, lack of financial aid and other resources (childcare, housing), and a lack of confidence.

“The above patterns of thinking often only limit students and get in the way of their doing well both academically and personally,” said Becker, who has 15 years of professional counseling experience, including 12 years at GRC. Becker also noted in an e-mail interview that the counselors at Green River see a spike in stress among students due to the abundance of work that occurs during the middle and end of the quarter from midterms, projects, term papers and finals.

Not only does the large amount of work leave students stressed, but also the pressure they feel to do well to retain financial aid, the lack of confidence students may feel and the pressures from their families all contribute to the high anxiety levels of college students.

Margarita Tartakovsky reports in her article “Depression and Anxiety Among College Students” that attending college calls for a serious

transition that exposes students to experiencing many “firsts.” Despite the excitement that may come with these experiences, students begin to struggle when they are unable to manage these firsts, said Tartakovsky.

Failure to handle these situations has the ability of causing students to experience anxiety and depression, which can impact their ability to work.

Britany Sphar, 19-year-old undeclared major at GRC, experienced the difficulty of managing these firsts during her first year of college. Sphar said the majority of her stress comes from “not being prepared during high school and not knowing what instructors expect.”

The feeling of anxiety caused by stress may seem impossible to overcome, but the college provides students with resources that help students gain strategies to be more successful in college. Those resources include the Public Speaking Center, the Writing Center and the Math Learning Center.

Sphar has sought out help from the writing center, as well as the math learning center, to help lower her stress levels.

Green River also offers on-campus counseling services which allows each student seven free hours of counseling services that are already paid for in their student fees.

“We usually feel a sense of relief (and less isolated) through the simple act of telling our story to another person who cares and is interested in our well-being,” said Becker. “Once you start to talk you can work toward a plan of reducing stress.”

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M. Kienan Briscoe | A&E Editor a&e@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

College Celebrates Diversity Event Social Justice and Activism at ODEI’s Fourth Annual Diversity and Equity Conference

Calendar

courtesy | ODEI

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A ceremonious dance, part of the Somoan Arts Festival, at Mount Rainier High School.

By: Maria Garcia Staff Writer The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) hosted its fourth annual Diversity and Equity Conference.

The conference took place on two separate days, May 12 and May 14.

The conference on Thursday, May 12 consisted of several workshops along with presenters and was held here on campus. Workshops focused on topics such as social justice and social activism, skills development and awareness of others. The workshops were held in classrooms around campus.

The conference on Saturday, May 14 hosted two events. The first event took place at Highline College for its female summit, Young Educated Ladies Learning (Y.E.L.L.), which featured speaker Erin Jones. The second event was held at the Mount Rainier High School for its second annual Samoan Arts Festival, where there were live bands, performances and food.

The conference on May 12 was hosted by ODEI alongside multiple organizations and clubs including the Latino Student Union, Black Student Union and First Nations.

Director of ODEI, Michael Tuncap, said, “Faculty and staff get to go to conferences and then a very small select group of students…but the rest of the college, they don’t get that opportunity, and…that’s why we put one on, to give everyone that same great opportunity.”

This conference not only gives students the opportunity to participate, “but also for students to be involved in the actual organizing and planning of it,” Vik Bahl, from the English Division, said. Few colleges give opportunities like this

where leadership and community outreach take place, Bahl said.

The conference gives minorities the chance to speak up and use their voice. In such cases, students are, “Not just at the door, begging for entrance. They are running the show…they can claim ownership,” Bahl said.

Conferences like this, where students are given a voice, are not very common. For Green River College (GRC) to offer such events, it encourages students and faculty to participate and help make a difference on campus.

According to Tuncap, another unique aspect about GRC is that it was featured on TIME magazine.

“For the first time, in 50 years…

TIME noted that the U.S. Department of Education’s Research verifies that out of every public college in the U.S., we…have the largest racial diversity growth in the last 25 years,” Tuncap said. It should be noted that this does not include international students. Tuncap added the K-12 schools in Kent are comprised of 134 languages.

It appears that diversity at GRC is, and has been, increasing throughout the past few decades. The diversity in nearby areas also continues to accelerate at a fast pace.

“One of the biggest…challenges… with regards to diversity and equity, is the lack of diversity in the faculty ranks, in the administrator ranks… we want to…make sure that we’re addressing the hiring practices and the opportunities for advancement that employees within the system have,” Bahl said, noting that diversity within the staff and faculty is much lower compared to the students.

“The diversity of the student body is not matching up to the

diversity of the faculty and the professional staff and the administration…as our council, as our office, and as our diversity organizations have found, this is not by accident nor is it because of misguided intentions, but this is actually a scientific outcome to structures of racism and structures of inequality,” Tuncap said.

“If indigenous people, if refugees, if immigrants are forced to shed their language…religion and…culture, then that is gonna lead to a very unhealthy college environment and…a lot of fear,” Tuncap said.

College campuses need diversity in order to build a strong community.

Not only should diversity be encouraged, but it should also be celebrated. Jones, who spoke at Y.E.L.L., comes from a diverse background and has achieved many accomplishments, such as being “one of ten White House Champions of Change for Educational Excellence for African Americans,” according to the packet containing the speakers’ information organized by ODEI. “This is something to celebrate, especially with what has been going on across the nation regarding the #BlackLivesMatter movement,” Tuncap said.

Another speaker was Aaron Dixon. He is a political activist and has been fighting social injustice for years. In 1961, he walked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a march to stop housing discrimination in Seattle, according to information from the ODEI. The other speaker was Jose Antonio Vargas. According to the informational packet, he is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist,

May filmmaker and media publisher. He spends a lot of his time advocating for undocumented immigrants, as he himself is one.

Melisa Williams, director of student affairs, said they were, “very fortunate to bring Jose.” Through his work, Vargas has put a face to what being an undocumented immigrant is and sheds light on multiple aspects regarding the status of undocumented immigrants, Williams said.

“Green River should be very proud because we have one of the best student life,” Tuncap said.

GRC has hosted many events in the past, some of which are concerts. “We get asked about our concerts,” Williams said, noting that GRC is active in student life and involvement.

Qurleen Deol, a GRC student and peer navigator for ODEI, has been here for a few years. Deol said that she, “didn’t really get involved, but now, I wish I had done more.”

“Michael’s vision is to create these conferences and to have these faces so that Green River students can also…obtain knowledge and have access to that knowledge…it’s a very unique opportunity for the students to be able to hear these speakers, engage in the workshops,” Marwa Almusawi, assistant director of ODEI, said.

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Far East Movement

Featuring The Staxx Brothers and DJ Don Havi

@ Lindbloom SU 6:30 p.m. $5 GR Students $20 Public $10 Door

Islamic Awareness @ SU Building 12 p.m.-7 p.m. $5 GR Students $10 Non GR Students

Flag Raising and Time Capsule

Raising of the original GR Flag Pole and opening the 50 yr Time Capsule

@ Lindbloom SU 11:30 a.m.

8th Annual Challenge Coin Ceremony

Lunch will be provided and Veterans will receive a 50year coin

@ Lindbloom SU 11:30 a.m.

Jun

5

CCA Study Night Free pizza provided

@ CCA Communication Room 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Annual Student Art Exhibition

Gallery of featured student work

@ Helen S. Smith Gallery, Holman Library

M. Kienan Briscoe | A&E Editor a&e@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

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The Lens Zooms on Holly Merclich

Left: Warrior, Right: Wyoming, Bottom Right: Pride

By: Aubrey Casey Staff Writer The Fine Arts Division of Green River Community College recognized sophomore Holly Merclich, 18, as the spotlight artist of the month.

Merclich is a well-received photographer, currently working towards her Associates in Arts degree with plans of transferring to Montana State University in the future. She is currently hard at work creating a tarot-card inspired film project.

Merclich has been taking photos all her life but it wasn’t until her friend urged her to sign up for her first black and white photography class that she really discovered her passion for photography. The people who have encouraged her the most are her father, who supported her love of photography, and her photography teachers at Green River, who have helped her explore new techniques and learn the rules of photography.

Merclich described photography as a format that she could readily express herself in.

“It helps me see the world kind of, because I’m one of those people who doesn’t really share things with other people. So I kind of get my emotions and feelings out through photography,” Merclich said.

To Merclich, inspiration comes from everywhere but she is also really inspired by other photographers. She often looks at two photographers’ in particular for

inspiration: Irving Penn and Margaret Bourke-White. She is really inspired by how Penn portraits are shot in a very unique way. She likes the way he uses butterfly lighting to create a really dramatic look and the postures the models take.

She is also often inspired by the works of Bourke-White, who was the first female photographer for Life magazine back in World War II. Merclich wants to go into the field of photojournalism in the future and hopes to work for either Time Magazine or National Geographic, so she looks to BourkeWhite for inspiration.

“If you can be like Margaret Bourke-White, you know you’re doing something right,” Merclich said.

Merclich really enjoys photography because when she goes out to shoot she feels at peace.

“I like how it’s you and your camera. Like, you can take other people with you but it’s usually just you and the camera and whether you’re doing landscape or street photography – it’s just that focus you have because as a photographer you owe it to people to tell the truth.”

When taking a shot, Merclich goes through different processes depending on if she is doing landscape or street photography.

When taking landscape shots she said she wakes up around 4:30 in the morning to take photos during the golden hour, which is right at sunrise, and also right at sunset.

During this time, according to Merclich, is when photographers can get beautiful tones as the sun rises and sets.

If she is doing street photogra-

By: M. Kienan Briscoe A&E Editor

* Catfish are the only animal who has an unequal number of whiskers. * The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.

Artist Holly Merclich phy she just grabs her camera and takes a walk, preferring people to not know she is there in order to capture pure candid shots.

Merclich advises all struggling artists to be persistent in their fields. She stresses the importance for an artist to maintain an extensive portfolio and said the art world is difficult to break into but if you are passionate enough you should keep on trying until you make your big break.

* Los Angeles’ real name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula”. * Banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories an hour. * Recycling one glass jar generates enough electricity to watch television for three hours.

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2015-2016

Raghav Mandhana | Opinion Editor opinion@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

Faculty Strike is NOT the Solution

Editorial

A strike could be imminent as the faculty bet on their last horse in the race.

Who will come out on top? No one. At this point, no one is going to be coming out without scars, having sacrificed something important.

If the administration allows this strike to occur without talking with the union or the faculty this could further send Green River into financial straits. Right now we have a $4.5 million debt due to poor spending and even worse planning.

A strike means students will not be able to finish their classes and some will not be able to graduate unless you pass everyone.

We all know that’s not going to happen.

Some students are going to be frustrated by this strike and leave for greener pastures where they will not have to waste 15 minutes of class time discussing the campus environment.

If this strike happens, that’s a terrible PR move on the college’s part. People will be seeing those instructors marching outside the school, even if it is only for a day, and associate those images with the college. In the grand scheme of things, is it worth it to let them strike for that huge hit to PR? This college has a PR problem and keeping the faculty unhappy is not going

to solve that in any way. They are just going to keep telling students and faculty from other colleges and institutions not to come here because of the environment. The stigma of a toxic environment and poor treatment of faculty and adjuncts will permeate the college. If the April 21 board meeting is any indication, that toxic stink has already seeped into the walls.

The faculty also need to look at the realities of the strike and its impact on students and the members themselves.

For those that do not know, when the faculty strike they are not being paid.

That means all faculty members who depend on their paychecks to survive are out of luck. The union is organizing relief efforts for people most affected by the strike, but the fact remains that this heavily affects people’s livelihoods. The faculty know this already and are not going to make the decision lightly.

There is also the threat that this is what the administration wants. Faculty striking means jobs are now available to be filled by people who are not going to be supports of the union. If the administration targets instructors who need to work, then those jobs could be filled quickly and the faculty are left outside

the gates protesting over their jobs that are no longer available. This is getting into tinfoil hat territory, but some jobs are going to be filled during the strike. That is just a necessity for the college.

If the faculty strike, they are going to lose the support of the majority of students. This strike jeopardizes student’s success, and that could lose the faculty a valuable tool in leveraging the administration. Of course, the faculty could get students to walk out with them, but even with a strong student support pillar to lean on, that is still a minority.

In the end, all this is selfish. The faculty wants the PPP to be gone and their jobs to be secure. The administration wants the union to go and the faculty to fall in line.

The students just want to come here and learn. Everyone has an opposing stake in the race. No one is passing the finish line.

So how do we solve this issue? No one at The Current have the answers. The solution all relies on communication and so far no one is willing to make the first step. The most drastic measure available is to lock President Eileen Ely and Jaeney Hoene, president of the United Faculty Coalition, in a room and only let them out when a solution is reached.

That is never going to happen.

Editorials reflect the opinions of the entire editing staff of the Current.

thestaff

James Ristig Editor-in-Chief 253-833-9111 x2376

Riley Agnew Managing Editor Campus Editor 253-833-9111 x2377 Kienan Briscoe A&E Editor

Raghav Mandhana Opinion Editor

Alina Moss Sports Editor Ad Manager

Logan Hoerth Copy Editor

Kartik Sarda Web Editor

Staff Writers: Marie Kepler, Mati Lund, Cesar Leori-Gonzalez, Maria Garcia, Aubray Casey, Jiahao Wu, Emilio Jimenez, Michael Milat Photographers: Alina Moss, Mati Lund

How will Campus Tensions Impact International Student Transfer Plans?

By: Kartik Sarda Web Editor One thing Green River College can actually be proud of is its International Program. With students from more than 40 nationalities, GRC surely has the most diversified campus. Seeing how successful its international students are, any new students out of the US will have high expectations for themselves, and there is nothing wrong in doing so.

I myself am an international student who joined GRC a year ago.

I also expected to have an amaz-

Editorial Policy

ing time here, with the dream of transferring to a great university after getting my Associates degree.

However, recent activities on campus have made it tough for me (and I assume most of the other international students like me) to maintain the same amount of faith in the college.

With all the stuff (read our Campus section if you do not know what ‘stuff’) that is happening in the college, it has become difficult for students to just focus on their studies. These protests and marches are very uncommon and alien to some of the interna-

The Current is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions without censorship or advanced approval. The opinions of the opinion stories are that of the writer and the writer alone. If you have an opposing viewpiont feel free to write The Current a Letter to the Editor at editor@thegrcurrent.com

tional students, especially those who joined GRC in the spring quarter. Considering the difference in cultures, a lot of students feel uncomfortable in this environment which they might even be seeing for the first time. On the other hand, not being able to take part in these activities makes them feel detached from the college and its activities.

These are just some qualitative effects that cannot be described without going abstract. However, other clearly observable issues that have caused problems to international students, including me,

Theft Policy

have to be resolved before things get worse.

On one hand, the administration says that the enrollment has decreased, causing severe loss of funds. That is one of the reasons that is given for the non-availability of important classes. On the other hand, in practice when registering for classes, a lot of international students do not get into the classes they want not because of its unavailability, but because of it completely filling up. Now, I do not know if this makes sense to

On page 7 of issue 10 volume 50, Ean Daus name was misspelled.

On page 7 of issue 10 volume 50, there was an error of the degree earned in the philosophy program, the degree earned is a BAS

If you find a factual error or simply a name spelled incorrectly, please contact us at: - editor@thegrcurrent.com - 253-288-3457 - or find us OEB 17

Continued on Page 9

Each individual is permitted one free copy per issue. Additional copies may be purchased with prior approval for 50 cents each by contacting The Current. Newspaper theft is a crime.

Anyone who removes, discards or destroys more than one copy to prevent other individuals from reading that issue may be subject to civil, criminal and/or campus penalties.

Letters to the Editor

The Current encourages its readers to be involved and will accept letters of 400 words or less for publication. Anonymous letters are not accepted and the editors reserve the right to reject or edit letters for space, taste and legal concerns. All letters become property of The Current. Send letters to editor@ thegrcurrent.com.

Raghav Mandhana | Opinion Editor opinion@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

opinion

thecurrent

9

2015-2016

An Eye Out in the Parking Lot By: Cesar Leon-Gonzalez Staff Writer Safety on campus is key. Enforcement of parking lot security cameras is essential for this to happen.

There are many acts that go unseen in our parking areas that faculty needs to be more aware of.

Campus Safety cannot physically monitor our vast parking area at all times and they should not have to, considering it is the twenty first century. With security cameras this task becomes much easier.

Many students at Green River College agree that having security cameras at our school would be beneficial to maintain safety. Doohan Wa, a student at Green River College believes security cameras in the parking lot would bring a positive impact to the campus. “I’ve had friends that have had their cars broken into before,” Wa said.

Talking to Brian Lee, another Green River College student, about the subject, he agreed with the idea of installing security cameras.

“I think it would make the whole campus more safe,” Lee said.

Having security cameras in our parking lot would make certain issues, such as auto break-ins, hitand-runs, and suspicious activity, easier to resolve.

In my own past experience, the summer quarter of 2015, I went to school just like any other day, and parked in the lot near the library.

Upon returning, my rear bumper

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you, but I keep wondering why the classes are closed before everyone who wants it gets in. One reason might be the lack of faculty in that subject matter. But is it really true?

Or is GRC wasting its money on less important and trivial things (you know what I am talking about) rather than investing in major departments (I wish science was one of them).

This is probably one of the biggest problems that is directly affecting the international students, a majority of whom major in science or business courses. Whether they participate in the protests is their choice, but the availability of courses is not in their hands. With the required courses not available, it becomes really difficult to go ahead with the academic plan that they initially made for themselves.

Unlike the local domestic students, the international students cannot attend the local high school and college at the same

was completely scraped and paint was chipped as well. I quickly went to the campus safety office and reported the issue, knowing that the chances of anything happening were very slim. They asked me if I had any leads on the issue myself and if I had seen anything. As I had not, they told me they would place my report “on file,” which meant nothing was going to be done.

Christian D. Napper-Mercer, a student at Highline Community College, visiting Green River College for an event, said, “you could see the figure at least, maybe not the complete face, but a good description,” giving his input on security cameras.

Napper-Mercer also shared how Highline community college’s security is setup, including where parking lot cameras are located.

“We have tall light posts around the parking lot that also contain cameras,” Napper-Mercer said.

Taking the security layout of Highline Community College into consideration, our security system and monitoring strategies at Green River College could most likely be improved for better safety.

Taking a look at the GatorAlerts on our website, anyone can see that our campus is no stranger to freequent auto break-ins.

Recently, on Feb. 2 in the P6 parking lot near Cedar Hall, there was a report of a vehicle that was broken into and items stolen from it: a satellite radio and a cell phone.

Following that break-in, the very next day in the P8 parking lot, a second vehicle was reported to have been broken into, and the window of the car broken out. The victim also reported that her cell phone was stolen.

On Feb. 8 in the P15 parking lot, there were two additional reports of vehicles being broken into and items stolen from them.

The similarity between all of these incidents is that no suspect was identified. Sure, Campus Safety is working with Auburn police to investigate and prevent further incidents like this. However, finding the suspect in this way is like finding a needle in a haystack.

These incidents were also back to back and the suspect slipping away from Campus Safety is happening time and again. The reason for the failure to catch the suspect is probably the lack of monitoring.

This is where the convenience of security cameras could have helped, either to stop the act while it was happening or to get a description of the suspect.

For students and faculty who park at the Green River College campus, an uneasy feeling arises after hearing about the incidents—speaking for myself at least, making sure my car is locked and making sure nothing valuable is left in plain view. I get a paranoid feeling every time I park on campus.

The primary reason for students to go to school is to receive an ed-

time. For them, the only place to learn is here.

Also, believe it or not, we pay about two to four times the tuition fee than any domestic student.

The living expenses for most of the international students are also higher than the local students.

Additionally, it is more difficult for us to transfer to another university, without many legal complications and paperwork.

Thus, it is the responsibility of the college to adhere to the problems international students are face.

When travelling from our home country to the US and attending the college, there is a great deal of trust that we put in the college and its administration. No doubt with the unity of all students and faculty this issue will be resolved. But what if not everyone wants to be a part of it? They did not come here to fight for the college, but because they want to achieve their own dreams and goals in their lives.

With the latest news about the strikes, the major tension that

remains is the cancelling of classes and the loss of studies for the students. Surely there is anger among the students as well as faculty against the administration.

The fight is definitely justified, and it is important to protest with unity. However, it is a loss to those who only want to pursue their major, complete their courses and transfer or get a job. It is a waste of time to those who are suffering the unavailability of required courses.

Although this is part of the learning curve in a student’s life, but not everyone wants to be a part of it. Thus, if the situation does not get better soon enough, it will not be shocking to see lesser enrollment in the college. International students are the shine of GRC, and if their opinion about the college is rusted, it would be a major loss to everyone who is part of this diverse and beautiful community.

Alina Moss | The Current

ucation. The last thing that should be on a student’s mind is the safety of their car and valuables being broken into and stolen. The same goes for faculty and staff. They come to school to fulfill a purpose for education, and they should not feel uneasy of auto break-ins distracting them from their job or making them feel uncomfortable on campus.

Needless to say, safety on campus should be the number one goal.

Student protest in front of the LindBloom Student Center.

Alina Moss | The Current

There should not be any reason for a student to feel unsafe or wary of coming to school on a regular basis, especially if Green River College can do something about it.

It does not seem like much to ask for of Green River College to provide the campus with security cameras in our parking lots and have someone from our Campus Safety team assigned to monitoring them. After all, it is for our safety and protection.

sports

thecurrent

Alina Moss | Sports Editor sports@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

11 2015-2016

Basketball League Invites Students and Staff to Shoot Hoops By: Jiahao Wu Staff Writer Multicultural Basketball League has now started in the Spring quarter, welcoming students as well staff members.

MBL is set with different expectations or goals for different groups of people.

With its inception in 2013, Green River College (GRC) holds it only in Spring quarters every academic year. It started on May 11 this year and will continue every Wednesday until June 1. Students and local staff can play basketball in the Physical Education building from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. without the need to pay any fees.

Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ODEI) sponsored the event with 37 years old Michael Tuncap as its director. However, this event would not have been possible without the help of students and other full-time faculties.

Marquis Blackwell, who played

for the GRC basketball team, designed the posts for this League and recruited the student players belonging to various cultures. On the other side, Tuncap tried to recruit the staff players from different departments.

Any student who is willing to join the league can go to the second floor in the Student Union building and talk to Tuncap or Blackwell for signing up. There is at least one staff member in the PE building who is in charge of sign-sheets and arranging students/staff members mixed in different teams. It is their responsibility to make sure that every student who signed up gets to play in the league.

For the first two weeks, ODEI staff is going to determine the amount of people who can join the league. They will divide students or staff into different groups based on their skill levels.

“There are people who are actually playing basketball for the first time,” Tuncap said. “We want to make a balance of every team but

improve their basketball skills as well.” Every team is going to have a championship match. Staff of ODEI will use the official scoring board as well as judges for each game, lasting about 20 minutes. Although there is not a huge reward for the top teams, players who are outstanding and skilled will have the opportunity to get selected for the ceremony of GRC at the end of this year.

According to Tuncap, some basketball players who played for the school team will voluntarily join this event. They not only have fun playing the game, but they will also teach the beginners some important skills. “School team players can improve their skills in coaching and it might help the players become leaders,” Tuncap said. “Even if they don’t play basketball anymore in the future, they still have chances to do the coach jobs.”

Multicultural Basketball League also builds a bridge between students from different races or countries. Tuncap indicated that

in the basketball court of Student Union building, usually groups of the same race play basketball or other sports. They are shy to communicate or play with other groups because of several reasons.

Multicultural Basketball League makes people from different races to get mixed in teams and play basketball. “We just want people to come out and have a good time and also to make new friends,” Blackwell said. Multicultural Basketball League welcomes everyone from all cultures, nationalities and genders.

“Sports are good way to make people from different cultures make new friends,” Tuncap said. “Imagine the feeling that you might have with some close friends because of playing basketball if you are the new students.” According to Tuncap, this league can make students have interest and join more events of diversity on campus. “Playing basketball is my favorite and I have been studying in here for almost 2 years. I attended league every year and I made lots of friends from

different countries. “ Jianchun Zhu, a student at GRC, said. “Some of them have higher skills than me and I learned a lot.”

For the future goals of Multicultural Basketball league, Tuncap wants to expand the schedule for different quarters. “But many students in GRC love playing basketball,” Tuncap said. “We want to offer opportunities as much as possible to these students.”

Furthermore, if the ODEI became popular, Tuncap wants to add the registration fee and contribute this money to GRC scholarships. In fact, many school basketball players do not play here on scholarships. “It will be good if we have the scholarships and support them,” Tuncap said. “Our big goal of this league right now recruits more students from all around the world and let them make new friends by playing basketball.”

Recreational Sports Available for all Green River Students By: Cesar Gonzalez Staff Writer

Recreation sports offers an alternative to varsity sports budget cuts at Green River college.

Bob Kickner, basketball coach and athletic director has teamed up with Marc Milsten, coordinator for international recreational and activities to offer athletic competition for students with a wide range of talents. What Green River College does not have in varsity, it tries to provide an alternative through Recreational sports, Kickner said.

Due to the unfortunate 522 process, many programs including athletics took a hit with budget cuts. The varsity cheerleading team and softball team took the hit and were cut out of varsity. The popularity of the sports apparently have nothing to do with the decision, as both had a full team.

To better explain the reasoning for the elimination of the two varsity sports, it can be simplified to an increase in payroll costs.

Coaches are now deemed benefit eligible which 522 pays for. It is unfortunate for those who are involved to be forced out of them because of a funding issue.

The bright side to the 522 process is, although it may have cut funding for certain varsity sports, it picked up the slack and increased funding for Green River’s recreational sports. “It is unfortunate that we lost sports in this go round but I think ultimately it has positioned us well for the next 10 years of doing sports on this campus better,” Kickner said.

Kickner refuses for cheerleading and softball to be completely wiped out from the college. As there is not return for varsity cheerleading and softball at Green River, Kickner is working on adding them to recreational sports.

Cheerleading is being worked on to be brought into recreational sports. Recreation sports is hoping to have a cheer program next year as a club sport. Softball unfortunately will not be brought back, though the recreation sport program at green river is looking into an alternative, a co-ed slow pitch softball.

For those who have been cut from cheerleading and softball in varsity sports due to the 522 process, there is still opportunity to compete through the recreational sports program at Green River. As well as for any other student who are interested in competing, recreational sports offers a wide variety of sports that match up to every individual's talents.

With only two months into the new rec sports building, it is already showing beneficial success as all the teams are filled.

Meaning students are really being drawn to the recreational sports program at Green River and seem to be enjoying their favorite sports offered through it.

Championships are not a priority, playing and having fun are, Kickner said. If you are looking for a place to have fun and compete, then the recreational sports team invites you to come in and give it a try.

The recreational sports program at Green River offers the opportunity to play in a variety of parks and recreation leagues. Ranging from Auburn, SeaTac and Kent.

There are many goals for the recreational sports program at GRC, standing out are, “trying to serve the variety of levels of talents of our students, also trying to just promote health, wellness, lifestyle and hopefully some Green River tradition,” Kickner said.

Kickner is driven to have a proud tradition through our sports program. “We think we put Gator into Green River, athletics puts Gator if not we would be a technical college,” Kickner said.

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Picross

2015-2016

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www.thegrcurrent.com

Picross is a puzzle game where you fill out boxes in order to make a picture. Around the grid are sequences of numbers. Each number tells you there is group of consecutive filled-in squares somewhere in that row or column. For example, a five above a column means there is a group of five squares with no spaces in-between that you should be fill in. If there is more than one number in a row or column, it means there are multiple groups of black squares, separated by at least one white square.

Here’s a hint: The picture is of a beloved Green River alumni. Find the answer on thegrcurrent.com.

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1 4 2

5 4

1 4 1 2

5 5

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4 2 2

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