Cheer for Christmas Schedule your holiday events and plan the perfect party See pages 8 & 9
Eastfield College
Tuition may rise for books District proposes $20 per credit hour hike to supply textbooks to students See page 2
Volleyball takes second place Harvesters fall to newcomer Owens in nationals See pages 12 & 13
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Volume 50, Issue 7
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The Et Cetera
District considers raising tuition By ARIA JONES Editor in Chief @AriaJonesETC
Tuition could be raised by $20 per credit hour to cover the cost of textbooks and class materials under a plan proposed by the Dallas County Community College District Board of Trustees. Students would receive the materials on the first day of class as part of a deal between DCCCD and campus bookstore Follett. During a campus forum Nov. 5, DCCCD Chancellor Joe May said that when classes start in fall, students would receive the digital version of their textbooks automatically and have the option to purchase the hard copy for an additional charge. If the book is only available in the hard copy, students would get all new books, none used or loaned. Students would have the books bagged and pick them all up at one location. District Chief Financial Officer John Robertson, who presented the plan at the DCCCD Financial Committee meeting Oct. 2, said this would help students better understand the true cost of attending college because there wouldn’t be an additional textbook cost. “I think we complicate the financial side of going to school, and I think this makes what Dallas does very simple to understand,” he said. The average student book cost is $124 per three-credit class, and this proposal would cut the average cost in half at $60 per three-hour class, according to the DCCCD. Follett would provide a contribution of $2.5 million over a 10-year contract term. “It depends on who you ask, but somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of students are not receiving their materials,” May said. “We began this quest, how do we basically just cook this into the tuition, … so that there’s not a textbook fee.” Student Jose Reyna said that while the proposal looks good on paper, he doesn’t always need books for his classes. “Having to always pay for the books seems a bit much,” he said. Robertson said he has been working on this proposal for two years, seeking a company that would be willing to work with the district, and that it eventually ended up being Follett. He said he would like to pilot the program at one of the DCCCD campuses during the summer. He said that he wants to keep tuition affordable and the district has the second lowest tuition in the state among colleges in major cities. It would still be $10 below the state average with the increase, he said. Robertson said that students who take a course that doesn’t have a textbook will eventually take a course that does. Even with the added $20 to tuition, it is still going to save students money, he said. “There may be students who think they can get through the course without the learning materials,” he said. “That’s a roll of the dice.” Autobody major Zachary Zutter said that while
Alvin Braziel Jr.
Execution date set in murder case By JAMES HARTLEY Digital Editor @ByJamesHartley
SOURCES: DCCCD, STUDENT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUPS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
this would be a way for people in academic programs like math or science to save money, books aren’t a large necessity for his major, so he doesn’t see a reason to increase tuition. “I feel like the system that we have now is OK,” he said. “I feel like offering different ways to acquire the textbook would be better, like offering cheaper methods like digital.” He said he’s seen a lot of students in his program who struggle to pay the tuition they have now. “I just feel like it wouldn’t be fair to them,” he said. “Because they are already struggling paying. So they don’t need another $60 or something that they’re not going to have to need.” Based on the credit hours they take, students in the automotive technology program could be paying about $340 more for their textbooks with the increased tuition, automotive technology professor Kevin Giles said. The books are normally $568. Giles said he has been voicing his concerns, responding to number of emails from the chancellor with questions about the program. “I understand the value of adding the books into the tuition,” Giles said. “I understand all that
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and I applaud that, and I think that’s a great thing, but I just have a lot of issues.” He said that although the change may benefit other students, it would be more expensive for his students. “We’re looking at the socialism system here,” Giles said. “A little bit of socialism. You’re paying for my books, or my students would be paying for other people’s books.” He said he is also concerned about what happens to the books if a student drops his class. His students purchase all of the books they need for the two-year program and use them all in their first class. If they drop, they could be walking away with $568 of books. “We have a lot of students that come in, and after one or two classes they decide they don’t want to do this anymore so they quit,” Giles said. In an email sent Nov. 26 to clarify information about the proposal to employees, the DCCCD said even students in classes that use open educational resources would not be exempt from paying the new tuition. See Students, page 15 ➤
The man convicted of the 1993 rape and double homicide on Eastfield’s track is set to be put to death Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. Alvin Braziel Jr. was found guilty of the Sept. 21 murder of Doug White, 27, and the rape and murder of White’s wife of 11 days, Lora White. Braziel was not linked to the crimes until 2001, when a DNA test placed him at the scene. He was serving five years in prison for sexual assault of a child when the DNA test connected him, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records. Braziel’s attorneys argued in appeals that he received substandard representation earlier in the case, but higher courts did not agree. The Supreme Court declined in 2016 to hear his case. His attorneys argued that trial lawyers should have brought up abuse during his childhood, a history of mental illness in his family and a head injury as reasons Braziel should receive a life sentence instead of death. The murder received national attention, re-enacted on “America’s Most Wanted” in the 1990s, amid the ongoing search for the Whites’ killer. The murders were followed by security upgrades on Eastfield’s campus, including adding lights and instituting a campus escort program to take students to their cars at night, The Et Cetera reported in 1993. The escort program was rarely used and is now defunct.
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Faculty president resigns after controversial email By DAVID SILVA Senior Videographer @DavidSilvaETC
Government professor Stacey Jurhree and history professor Mike Noble have unexpectedly stepped down from their positions as Faculty Association president and vice president following a dispute at a Nov. 16 association meeting. Noble, who is in his ninth year at Eastfield, and Jurhree, in his 25th year, resigned Nov. 16 and Nov. 18, respectively, in what some faculty members say was an unprecedented event. The dispute stemmed from an email Jurhree sent to faculty members the night before the meeting in which the professor seemingly links Eastfield’s increasingly minority student body to a perceived lack of an “academic environment.” In the email, Jurhree begins by advising faculty to be wary of administration, proclaims that the new eight-
week course format is not effective for the Eastfield student body and criticizes the Office of Student Engagement and Retention for “having loud music blasting in the Bee Hive while classes are going on.” He goes on to say: “Finally, when I came to Eastfield College 25 years ago, the student population was about 97 percent white and we did not have all of this foolishness going on. Eastfield College then was more like an academic environment. Now it has turned to ghetto fabulous and I am very grieved by this.” According to fall 2018 enrollment records, 48.3 percent of Eastfield students are Hispanic, 20.8 percent are Caucasian, 19.2 percent are AfricanAmerican, 4.4 percent are Asian and 7.3 percent identify as other. Multiple faculty members, all of whom asked to remain unnamed, said that the Nov. 16 meeting began as any other would, with members discussing current events and upcoming proposals relating to campus.
Then the topic of the email was brought up. Noble, who was sitting in the front of the room, stepped in, openly deeming it racially offensive. Exchanges about the email ensued with multiple faculty criticizing Jurhree, and some Faculty Association officers attempting to explain what Jurhree meant in his email. Noble suddenly left the meeting as multiple faculty members continued to press Jurhree on the issue. Noble resigned from his vice president position through email later that day. Jurhree officially stepped down Nov. 18, stating in an email that he wanted to focus on his teaching. When asked about whether the pushback over the email was behind his resignation, Jurhree said no. He also said that the contents of his email were misunderstood, claiming that he was expressing his frustration about the college’s treatment of minority students. “I was asking, ‘Why now that we
have more brown and black students, do we feel the need to have to entertain them?’ ” he said. Noble declined to comment. Various faculty members stated that this isn’t the first time Jurhree has sent controversial emails. A March 2007, issue of The Et Cetera reported that Jurhree was placed on paid administrative leave after sending an email criticizing administration, Dallas County Community College District leaders and members of the Faculty Association. The email was sent to the entire Eastfield mailing list, as well as thenDCCCD Chancellor Wright Lassiter. In it, Jurhree specifically criticized then-faculty President Rita Lewis and Vice President Gloria Jackson, stating that association members “have to come to realize that we now have no viable voice” under their leadership and that he was told that “individuals have used their association positions to further their own personal agendas.”
His absence from class led to a student-led rally over concerns for the professor’s return and their grades. Jurhree returned to campus several days later. In regards to Jurhree and Noble’s stepping down, Eastfield College Vice President Mike Walker said in an email that leadership changes within the Faculty Association were independent from administration. “I can say that while our faculty may have disagreements about issues they deal with, I am certain that they are fully invested in, and fully committed to, excellent teaching and students’ success,” he said. Walker also said that administration wants to completely understand the situation before making a further comment. “We have limited knowledge of the content and the context of the overall situation; the email, resignations, etc.,” he said. “For that reason, there has not been a statement by administration about the email.”
Recount ends former professor’s Texas Legislature hopes By DAVID SILVA Senior Videographer @DavidSilvaETC
Former communications professor Joanna Cattanach conceded her race for Texas House District 108 on Nov. 29 to Morgan Meyer following a recount. Had she won, Cattanach would have been the sixth Dallas County Democrat to flip a Republican Texas House seat this election and the 13th across the state. Cattanach, a former reporter for the Dallas Morning News and commentator for WFAA, requested the recount following a less than 1 percent win margin for the two-term Republican incumbent. The race was one of the few still lingering from the 2018 midterm election, which was characterized by many as a response to President Donald Trump. As results came in on election night, Cattanach’s race stayed neckand-neck, seemingly inching closer as more precincts were reported. Late into the night, a slim 440-vote margin had Meyer above Cattanach. By the next day, neither campaign had declared victory nor conceded defeat, with Cattanach telling her
supporters that she was waiting for mail-in and provisional votes to be counted. “The voters of District 108 deserve a factual and thorough count,” Cattanach said. “We have the time in which to pursue such action.” As those votes came in throughout the following week, the gap between the two candidates only narrowed, with Meyer leading Cattanach by just more than 200 votes. According to the Texas secretary of state, a candidate can request a recount if the difference in votes is less than 10 percent of the total votes received by the leading candidate. For District 108, the difference in votes would have to fall under approximately 3,900 votes to qualify. Cattanach’s campaign decided to go forward with a recount request. This was met by criticism from the Dallas County Republican Party. Dallas County Republicans Chairwoman Missy Shorey called the recount a “political charade” in an email to supporters. “This recount is clearly a waste of time and a lot of money,” she said. Cattanach said that her campaign’s recount request was not abnormal for such a close race. “We owe it to everyone to make
sure every ballot is counted,” she said. On Nov. 29, 23 days after Election Day, the recount confirmed Meyer as the winner. Cattanach “While this election was very close,” Meyer said in a statement, “the voters of our district — regardless of who they supported — should have confidence that this race was thoroughly reviewed and final results are confirmed.” In many ways, Cattanach embodied the anti-Trump, women’s rights wave that followed the 2016 presidential election. Cattanach said that Trump’s rhetoric and policies threatened her and many other women. Once he was elected, she said she wanted to turn her interest in politics into action. She attended the first Women’s March in Washington, D.C., participated in a January 2017 protest at DFW Airport following the president’s travel ban and was the organizer of an effort to stop a Trump-brand hotel from coming to Dallas.
As Cattanach began supporting and associating herself with notable Texas Democrats, the Texas Legislature earned national attention with the introduction of controversial bills such as Senate Bill 4, the sanctuary cities bill, and Senate Bill 6, the bathroom bill. This only motivated Cattanach more, believing that the Texas Legislature and the Republican Party were being motivated by Trump’s hardline ideology. Democrats across Texas saw the controversies in Austin and Washington and chose to challenge Republicans in nearly every midterm race. Texas Democrats were also motivated by U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, as he looked to pose a legitimate threat to Ted Cruz. Cattanach, a resident of Old East Dallas, said she chose to run for District 108 because of the threat the legislature posed to women and minorities. Meyer, Cattanach’s opponent, voted in favor of the bathroom bill, despite establishing himself as a moderate Republican with bipartisan legislation. Despite Hillary Clinton winning the district by 6 points in 2016, Dem-
ocrats had no candidate to oppose Meyer, and in 2014 Meyer handily beat Democratic opponent Leigh Bailey. Cattanach, however, intended to be a part of the forecasted blue wave. Cattanach organized meet-andgreets, attended Beto campaign stops in North Texas, organized door-todoor canvassing, phone banks, and even had a mural of her and Beto drawn in Deep Ellum. As Election Day loomed closer and early voter turnout soared, Cattanach was feeling confident about her chances. Election Day itself was a bit more complicated. As the news cycle spotlighted the U.S. House flipping Democrat, Texas Republicans swept statewide races, with Cruz beating Beto, and Governor Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick securing wins against their Democratic opponents. North Texans won the only two State Senate seats to switch hands and first-time State House candidates like Julie Johnson, John Turner, AnaMaria Ramos all flipped Republican seats Cattanach, however, came short of victory.
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Liberator founder visits campus By YESENIA ALVARADO Managing Editor @YeseniaA_ETC
Lee Berg left a tape before he died, where he describes what he saw the day his division liberated the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945. As a first lieutenant in the 102 Infantry Division of the Army, Berg earned a bronze star following his heroism at the Battle of the Bulge. When the war was over and he got back to his Dallas home with his family, he kept the star and the images of horror locked away until he filmed the tape. The four-and-a-half-hour tape includes the haunting memories of human misery and torture of the captives’ conditions at Dachau. But Fran Berg said when her father came back he didn’t want to discuss his experiences with anyone, at least not until before his death. Berg is the commissioner with the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. She presented her father’s and other liberators’ stories at the Texas Liberators: Witness to the Holocaust event Nov. 28. Berg said the commission was built because they knew there would be many veterans who would tell their stories to their children, but also many like her father who never spoke a word about it. The presentations are designed for people to feel like the liberators are personally speaking to them. The narratives of 21 Texas Liberators are shared on 21 display panels spread out across campus. The panels include service photos or modern day portraits and a short description of what they witnessed as they entered the Nazi concentration camps. Gerd Miller’s panel includes an excerpt from an interview with Stephen M. Sloan in 2013 where he recalls the conditions at Dachau. “It was hell on earth,” he said. “The people that were moving around, they were like skeletons. I mean, they were like zombies. A lot of them didn’t have shoes, and they wore those blue and gray concentration camp outfits. Undernourished, covered with sores, teeth missing.” Miller said they wanted to share their food with them but due to their starved lifestyle, a normal meal would be intolerable for them. “All they got every day — they had these big kettles over fire, and they got, like, a soup that was 90 percent
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Fran Berg, commissioner for the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, gave a presentation about the Texas Liberators, which included her father, Lee Berg.
water and cabbage, and some kind of crap in there,” he said. When soldiers arrived at camps, they liberated the prisoners but also cared for the piles of bodies. Ray Buchanan, who is also part of the 21 liberators, shared on one of the panels across campus what his young, curious self saw more than 60 years ago at Dachau. “Now, I went up there, and I’ve never seen such a sight in my life,” Buchanan said in a 2012 interview with Sloan. “That was just — dead people in carloads, and all them walking around there with no flesh, just bones and — just hundreds of them. Thousands of them. Just made me sick.” Megan Horlander, a reference librarian, said she was moved to tears while Berg talked about what she felt after watching her father’s tape for the first time. “You think about the victims but you don’t ever think about the people who went in there and got them out,” Horlander said. Although the exhibit has been up since Oct. 29 and will continue until Dec. 13, Horlander said most people just walk by the display and don’t bother reading the panels. She said Berg’s presentation was emotional and powerful and something people can’t turn their eyes away from. “Instead of just seeing a list of names, hearing about what was ac-
tually there and what happened was powerful,” she said. “I think our students got a lot out of it.” The commission partnered with Texas Tech University and Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History to develop an app, a book and a website for the Texas Liberator Project. These mediums are designed to provide easy and engaging access to the narratives. According to their honor roll list, they found about 425 liberators were from Texas. Berg said her father suffered from nightmares after returning from the war, and she never got to see his optimistic, carefree side. When she learned about his and other liberators’ stories and talked to their children, she realized they all shared the consequences of World War II. “Because of their experiences in World War II, they wanted us to be better people, but didn’t know how to use their words to say it,” she said. Academic enrichment coordinator Danae Bass said learning about history this way helps encourage students to be involved in their community and become global leaders. She said she felt lucky that the commission worked with Eastfield and brought the materials and the presentation at no cost. “They want you to speak up,” Bass said. “They want you to step out in your community and be involved so that we don’t experience the same tragedy. So that we do have people who have that inner strength to step up and play a role to create a positive environment.” Berg ended the presentation by asking guests to remember veterans and thank them and to avoid ostracizing people who are alone, speak a different language, practice a different religion or have different looks. Having empathy and being informed about what is happening around the world helps students create a change in their communities and work with others, she said. Berg said talking about the painful memories helped veterans like her father, and this type of conversation creates empathy. The commission wants to motivate students to be upstanders and speak out about violence and discrimination, she said. “They [the liberators] are incredible men, and now they realize they were quiet for so long that it is time to speak,” she said. “The more they speak, the better they feel because they’re reaching audiences.”
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Students had the opportunity to color, dance and eat foreign foods at Eastfield’s International Celebration.
World cultures celebrated during International Week By JAMES HARTLEY Digital Editor @ByJamesHartley
Students danced to foreign music, snacked on foods from across the world and discussed their heritage and favorite culture Nov. 15 during Eastfield’s International Celebration. The event took place during International Week. The week included information about the benefits of studying abroad and international cultural exchange, celebrated the traditions and customs of other nations and offered performances and an art exhibit to demonstrate the way society is shaped by worldview and heritage. “It’s very important when talking about global citizenship and culture,” Student Programs Development Coordinator Danae Bass said. That’s one of the reasons Mountain View College Spanish professor Ulises Rodriguez-Figueroa is planning a trip to Cuba with a group of Eastfield students. The trip, a part of international studies offered by the Dallas County Community College District, will give students credit and non-credit options to go to Cuba and learn Spanish through immersion. Equally important as the language learning, Figueroa said students will broaden their worldview and open their minds on the trip. “From my immigrant perspective, it’s important that we experience as many perspectives as possible to understand historical and cultural concepts,” Figueroa said. “Being able
to comprehend the world from other perceptions can help students understand themselves and their behaviors.” Jide “JC” Carew, an Office of Student Engagement and Retention event coordinator, encouraged students to embrace that exploration of culture at the International Celebration. He walked around the Hive asking students what heritage they claimed and what cultures interested them. Korean, Japanese and Latin cultures were of particular interest to students. Eastfield hosts 71 international students from 20 different nations, according to the International Student Admissions office. “It’s about a celebration of culture and recognizing that there’s not just one identity that makes up a person or our Eastfield community,” Carew said. “It’s important to always show and display the different cultures that are around because that influences our decisions, the way we think, our perspectives on life, and that needs to be broadened.” Carew brought a piece of his culture through his euro and buba, a shirt and pants traditionally worn in Nigeria. “Sometimes we feel like our student population may not feel like they belong, or that they identify or can see themselves here,” he said. “So we want to encourage people to not only wear traditional clothing or feel that sense of culture, feel like they have to hide that. They can show that on a daily basis, not just this week.”
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SGA fails to hold elections due to low turnout By ANDREW WALTER Opinion Editor @AndyWalterETC
The Student Government Association is seeking to fill its executive board after not receiving any applications for their planned officer elections during their last general meeting Nov. 30. SGA President Jasmin Larez said because of the new eight-week class schedule, difficulties keeping officer positions filled and low attendance at SGA general meetings, it’s been difficult for the current SGA executive board to be the student voice on campus. “Just because we’ve had such a limited executive board — and it’s been kind of a roller coaster — we haven’t really had time for much else,” she said. Student engagement has been a running issue for SGA this semester. During the Nov. 16 SGA general meeting, only eight club representatives were present. Few non-SGA or club representative students were in attendance. The general meeting Nov. 30 had only four club representatives present. Because the SGA received no election applications and attendance during the meeting was so low, the new business portion of the meeting was skipped.
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As of Nov. 30, three officers have stepped down, leaving only three officers in SGA.
The entire meeting lasted 12 minutes. Head SGA adviser Lamont Blackman, who started working at Eastfield in September, said it’s been difficult to foster student engagement for SGA because most students at Eastfield already lead busy lives. “We have a lot of low-income students who work, have children, things like that,” he said. “I wouldn’t say necessarily student government but government in general
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isn’t really a part of their day-to-day.” Blackman said the typical Eastfield student is what’s called a “backpack student.” He said these students come to school, go to class, leave for work and then go home, so they cannot give the time needed to participate in SGA. “They don’t seem to have much interest in sticking around because they have other obligations,” he said. In previous years, especially between the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters, the SGA was active on campus. Throughout fall 2015, the SGA listened to students by holding forums concerning campus carry and gun-free zones. Katy Launius, associate dean of access and equity, was the SGA adviser last semester. She left her role as adviser after changing positions within the college Oct. 4. Blackman said there was a three-to-fourweek gap where the SGA did not have an adviser before he was hired at Eastfield. He said this adviser switch hampered the SGA’s ability to act because they were left without any sense of direction. The SGA adviser essentially acts as a liaison to the SGA from the college. “If they need to know something, we tell them,” he said. “If they need to know how to proceed with anything they do, then we tell them. We help them. We work hand in hand.”
Former SGA Vice President Kaitlyn Moore said that even with low student involvement, the SGA wasn’t going away any time soon. “When it comes to things like the [OSER] roundtables, SGA can’t be disbanded because we’re different than some of the other clubs and organizations,” she said. Moore, who resigned as vice president after the Nov. 30 meeting, said that she wished she could do more for the SGA but her other commitments prevent it. “The main reason is that I would like to be more active in Phi Theta Kappa and some of the stress from SGA conflicts with that,” she said. “SGA is a wonderful thing and I believe with the right officer team it can go very far, but right now I do not have the capacity to do both Psi Eta and SGA with as much effort as I’d want to dedicate to them.” She said that although the official deadline to apply for a position on the executive board was Nov. 26, she doubts the SGA would turn anyone away if any positions still weren’t filled. Contact SGA adviser Lamont Blackman for information on how to apply for an officer position: OSER office C-237, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays lamontblackman@dcccd.edu
Life &Arts The Et Cetera
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018
A love for teaching and learning
Ana Rodriguez pursues education as her primary passion in life By SAMUEL FARLEY Reporter @SamuelFarleyETC
Professor Ana Rodriguez speaks softly as she remembers a time 20 years ago when she was an elementary school English teacher in her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. She sits in her office and leans back in her chair as she thinks. As her memories begin to come back they bring a warm and reflective smile to her face. In her free time, Rodriguez also led a handbell choir filled with students of all ages from around the community. Rodriguez was taught to play the handbell by her parents when she was a child. When she became a teacher, she shared her musical knowledge with her students who were eager to learn. “I saw an incredible need in the community I was in,” Rodriguez said. “My first group was five or six kids, and we did ‘Minuet in G’ by Beethoven.” One of Rodriguez’s students, a middle schooler named Juanito, holds a special place in her heart. Juanito desperately wanted to learn the guitar so he could play a song for his older sister’s graduation. So he asked Rodriguez if she could teach him. “I didn’t know how to play the guitar,” Rodriguez said with a laugh. But she agreed anyway, signing up for classes at a local university while working full time at the elementary school and teaching the young boy on the side. “Even though I only knew a little bit, it didn’t matter to Juanito,” Rodriguez said. “He was so eager to learn.” Thanks to her love to see others learn, Rodriguez performed a musical number alongside Juanito for his sister’s graduation. Though time has passed, Rodriguez still remembers that little boy from Puerto Rico as wearing a constant smile on his face. She remembers his passion for learning and she can’t help but smile to herself as she talks about his progression as her student. “It was like he had a unique drive to live and to thrive,” Rodriguez said. “That must have been what drove him to commit to doing his best at everything he did, a drive that is contagious and can only lead a teacher to give the best effort on their behalf.” Rodriguez’s love for teaching students is still as it was 20 years ago. Now she is a professor of education at Eastfield College, where she teaches a learning frameworks class. Perhaps one of the best-known qualities of professor Rodri-
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Ana Rodriguez’s greatest joy is seeing her students grow and accomplish their goals. From music to learning frameworks, she loves what she does.
guez is this infectious love that she has to see students grow. Scattered around Rodriguez’s office are small mementos from her students. Rodriguez speaks about one student who decided to pursue a career in criminal justice, and how she created a small forensics bag. Rodriguez holds the bag up and speaks with pride about her former student. “Her motivation to pursue her degree has increased exponentially, to the point that she is looking ahead at things in her profession,” Rodriguez said. Another student’s graduation picture sits on a desk next to her. Rodriguez met this student in the math spot during the first year she came to teach at Eastfield. Rodriguez had vol-
unteered to help tutor math even though she wasn’t a math professor and while teaching this student developed a lasting friendship with her. “She would come to my office, and we would work on her math, and I would look at her book and figure out the problems, and I did it because I love to teach and learn. And when she graduated she sent me that picture.” When Rodriguez came to Eastfield in 2010, fellow professors noticed the loving and personable qualities that Rodriguez has. Psychology professor Myesha Applewhite is one professor who has worked closely with Rodriguez. “The first time we met I noticed that she was kind, intelligent and very collaborative,” Applewhite said.
Both professors have worked together to develop online resources and classes, which Applewhite said can be difficult. “When you teach online classes you sometimes lose your voice as an instructor because the class is not in person,” Applewhite said. “But the way that Rodriguez has formatted her online courses has helped show how to fill the gap between instructor and student online.” English professor Shazia Ali has observed Rodriguez’s personal touch when teaching. “Students like her, the way she speaks to them and approaches them is very personable,” Ali said. Another former student of Rodriguez, Eastfield graduate Josh Nelson is impressed with his experience as her student. “Ana Rodriguez was an excellent teacher,” Nelson said. “She was kind and enthusiastic, but she also commanded authority. Not in an intimidating way, but in a way that I felt respected and that made me want to listen and do what she asked.” Nelson said that the overall lesson that he learned in her class was direction and selfcontrol. “You are the only one that can command your life,” he said. “You choose where it goes, and you need to know where you are going. We own the direction of our life no matter what disadvantages that we face. That is the overarching lesson throughout her class.” A couple of years after Rodriguez helped Juanito learn the guitar, the student invited her to a high school orchestra performance at Bellas Artes, a performing arts center in San Juan. Rodriguez sat on the second floor in what she remembers was a packed house. She watched Juanito play in almost all of the musical numbers with different instruments. He and his classmates were performing alongside the Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico. After the show, Rodriguez remembers seeing Juanito all grown up and still smiling. “Tell me, teacher,” Juanito said, “what instrument do you want to learn? Because now I can teach you.” What does a life devoted to teaching look like? For Rodriguez, it is the moments like these that draw the most joy for her. And inside these memories, a clear picture is drawn of the purest love a teacher can have for their student. “I did it,” Rodriguez said of that moment. “I helped someone move forward towards their dream, and I got to see him perform at Bellas Artes. That satisfaction that I felt, no paycheck can give you that.”
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018
What you shouldn’t do before finals, but we know you’ll do anyway
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The High
By AJI MARIAM Staff writer @TheEtCetera
Winter is the time of year where people get together and manifest the spirit of giving. Gathering friends and family to spend time warming up each others’ cold winter nights is something to look forward to, especially when there’s a party involved. Grab your best Santa hat, paint on a Rudolph nose and throw your elves on the shelf because it’s time to party. Holiday Movie Marathon 12 Days of Christmas isn’t the same without watching all your favorite holiday movies. It’s even more fun when you dress as your favorite characters. Invite all of your friends over for a long night watching Christmas movies while dressed as the movie characters. To add more fun, try re-enacting iconic scenes from the original movies. Remember, the cameras are always rolling and Santa knows who’s being naughty and nice. The Nightmare Before Christmas If you’ve neglected taking down your Halloween decorations, don’t put them away just yet. Break out the candy corn you’ve been hoarding for next Halloween and invite your guests over for a spooky celebration. Have your guests arrive in their skeleton suits and bob for apples. Remember, Jack Skellington won’t be proud of you unless you’ve added an element of fear to the festivities. Gift Wrapping Need a little help navigating the art of presentation? Having trouble with wrapping presents for the holidays?
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Five holiday party ideas Try throwing a gift-wrapping party. Invite family and friends and wrap cardboard boxes or challenge yourself by wrapping household items. Spending time gift-wrapping may sound boring, but with the right people and the right amount of healthy competition, it can also be a fun experience. Winter Beach Though the weather outside may be frightful, your party can still be delightful. Throwing a WinterThemed Beach Party is something for warm and cold weather lovers to enjoy. When sending invitations out, be sure to specify what the intended dress for the occasion is. Toss your best white sand drapery and seashells over your mom’s chaise lounge and don’t let the tiki torches burn your drapery. Dress for the winter weather or for a beach party in the comfort of your home; it’s all left to your discretion. Dessert Exchange Have a love for baking or eating desserts? Have a sweet tooth but want to introduce your taste buds to new recipes? Buy an industrial supply of flour, baking ingredients and tools and throw a Christmas dessert exchange party. Bring special homemade desserts to swap and challenge each other to replicate original recipes. Better yet, take it to the next level and compete while watching baking tutorials online. Consider donating any unused baking supplies to your local shelter to wish everyone a sweet holiday.
PHOTOS AND COVER IMAGE BY YESENIA ALVARADO. ILLUSTRATIONS BY MATEO COREY AND JACKIE
E TREVINO.
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The Et Cetera
www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Make Christmas eventful
Check out these happenings sure to create a happy holiday Christmas is a time of love, family and spending money. There are lots of events this time of year, but sometimes it seems like people forget that they don’t have to give away everything in their wallets. Here is a list with free or less than $10 events for you holiday penny pinchers. — Compiled by Yesenia Alvarado Holiday on the Hill in Historic Downtown Cedar Hill What: Celebrate Christmas early in the fashion of “Polar Express” with a train ride and a meeting with Santa. You can even wear your pajamas. The event will include a snow hill slide, a reindeer petting zoo and other festive activities. When: Dec. 6, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Where: Cedar and South Main streets, Cedar Hill Website: cedarhilltx.com 37th Annual Parade of Lights in Historic Downtown Grapevine What: This parade of lights is the largest lighted Christmas parade in North Texas. Just imagine Downtown Grapevine but with colorful LED lights in every arch, roof and tree. Then more than 100 floats and cars also lighting up the street. When: Dec. 6, 7 p.m. Where: Main Street in Historic Downtown Grapevine Website: grapevinetexasusa.com Vitruvian Lights at Vitruvian Park What: Walk along a lighted path of trees with some friends, a loved one or anyone in between. The Christmas light-wrapped trees provide the perfect background for an Instagram selfie. On Dec. 8, country duo Sonny’s Holliday is expected to perform at a Magical Night of Lights event that includes food trucks, free photos with Santa, a donation drive and lots of Christmas-related activities. Parking for special events will be $10 but otherwise parking is free. When: Nov. 23-Jan. 1 Where: 3966 Vitruvian Way, Addison Website: vitruvianpark.com
The Vitruvian Lights at Vitruvian Park, located in Addison, are on display until Jan. 1. The Park is filled with couples and people posing for photos in front of the extensive arrangement of adorned trees. The 19-acre park also hosts a variety of holiday events, including Magical Night of Lights and events outside of the holidays, such as the Run the Lights 5K, kickball and volleyball leagues and summer concerts. Left, Addison resident Chris Mays pauses to enjoy the lights while taking his dog, Chuck, for a walk.
Grand Tree Lighting Celebration at Galleria Dallas What: Watch the largest indoor Christmas tree in the U.S. light up its 450,000 LED lights. The full ceremony is on Dec. 8 and includes Olympic figure skater Jeremy Abbott and a pyrotechnic Santa named Missile Toes, of course. Mr. Toes performs his ice skating stunts while shooting fireworks off his skates. The event ends with a countdown to the lighting of the 95-foot Christmas tree. The event will be repeated Dec. 15 and Dec. 22 with different Olympic skaters. When: Dec. 8, Dec. 15 and Dec. 22, 6 p.m. Where: 13350 Dallas Parkway, Dallas Website: galleriadallas.com/holiday/ White Rock Holiday Market What: If you’re still looking for Christmas treats, consider supporting local vendors. The White Rock Holiday Market will include local produce, meats, eggs and baked goods for all your holiday recipes. The day will have live music, artisan-made gifts and baked goods. The market is expected to have this winter season’s produce like beets, oranges, blood oranges, lemons and cranberries. When: Dec. 8, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Where: 9150 Garland Road, Dallas Website: goodlocalmarket.org/programs-and-events/
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LIFE&ARTS
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
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The Et Cetera
Plano offers local eats, laid-back fun for students DCCCD provides free DART passes to most students. But you can visit many destinations besides the Eastfield campus. Reporter Cameron R. Cook and photographer Jesus Ayala hopped the rail and headed north on the red line, second to last station. Third stop in our series: Downtown Plano.
A stream of vines emitting white lights hang above and between redbrick buildings of classic design, greeting you with a personable and friendly vibe as you walk on cobblestoned sidewalks. The scent of cake balls and coffee is just steps ahead. Within two streets on either side of a rounded corner, surrounded by many new and modern apartments and lofts, Downtown Plano is one of the hippest places in DFW. Urban Crust hostess Morgan Wenger commutes to work, a woodfired pizza spot, from her home in Deep Ellum. She said the area is like a milder version of Deep Ellum and Downtown Dallas, which she said can get crazy. Plano is “more mellow and calm,” Wenger said. “I can drive here and not get frustrated.” You can get to Downtown Plano by riding the DART Rail Red Line and hopping off at the station located in the middle of this historic and turn-of-the-century region. Visitor Selena Hearn said she came to town from her home in Central California to see a friend who lives in McKinney. They were looking for a place to hang out for the night before taking a trip together up to Arkansas, Hearn said. She said they Googled a bar in Plano and decided to pick the 32 Degrees Rooftop Ice Bar that is on the third floor of Urban Crust. “It’s quiet, there’s good drinks and it has a nice patio where you can see the outskirts,” Hearn said. With so many places in Downtown Plano to choose from, you can start the day having coffee at XO and shopping for chocolate gifts at Dude, Sweet. Then end it out by getting some dinner at BRIX where you can watch sports and eat pub fare like Shepherd’s Pie or Chicken and Waffles. Lockhart Smokehouse gives a cozy Texas feel with tin-sign-covered red-and-black-colored walls, neon
TAKE A RIDE Part 3 of a series on places students can go with DART signs and wood flooring. Here you can match a meal of beef ribs and brisket with cole slaw and a Revolver High Brass beer. The bar serves a rotating tap of drafts and the barbecued meat is sliced right in front of you. Lockhart Smokehouse employee Kelly Radnitzer said he lives and works in Downtown Plano. “I’m down here all the time,” Radnitzer said. “I like all the bars, they just have a good selection of beer. All the locals are pretty cool, you get to know everybody. Just the atmosphere, it’s the old-school vibe, that’s what I like about it.” He said he see all kinds of people visiting the area who know it’s a place to enjoy a fun day out. “A lot of businesses come here to entertain their guests,” he said. “[It’s the] same idea with the families who are coming to hang out. It’s downtown. You want to do something, you go to downtown.” Radnitzer said that since Lockhart’s closes early, he’ll usually send night visitors down to Fillmore Pub. As a local, he said he chooses ZaLat for a late-night slice of pizza. Local resident Jeremy Duffy said he enjoys all the local spots. “BRIX, Vickery, ZaLat, all of them. It’s a pretty cool area to hang out in,” Duffy said. He said since he moved back to Plano a few years ago, the downtown area has seen a lot of growth and soon there will be much more. “It’s about to blow up,” Duffy said. “With all this new construction coming in, it’s changed the idea of the area [of] downtown real quick. It’s very chill. I would say personable, for
Downtown Plano
Downtown Dallas
sure. Slow to progress, but the things that will happen will be big.” Like any other entertainment area, shopping takes as much of a place as food and drink. Lafoofaraw boutique owner Julie Higginbotham said she and her partners bought the building and opened their shop nine years ago to sell lotions, jewelry, gift wrap and currently
JESUS AYALA/THE ET CETERA
Urban Crust’s ice bar is a big attraction in Downtown Plano. Draft beers are poured at 32 degrees and part of the bar is covered in ice.
a lot of Christmas products. “One of the partners had been down in this area probably almost 12-15 years ago and he liked it and so he said, ‘Let’s give it a shot and see what we can do,’ and here we are,” Higginbotham said. Lafoofaraw also does custom floral work, weddings, custom parties and anniversaries. “You can’t come buy a dozen roses from us, we don’t have a cooler,” she said. “We don’t do that, but we do custom work. We have an interior service and then we have all the gifts. So, we have three entities and it’s quite busy, and so it keeps us going.” Higginbotham said they have cus-
tomers who come from all over the metroplex, with many hailing from Richardson, Frisco and McKinney. “The new building in the back that’s under construction is three stories underground with about 400 spots for parking, so that is wonderful,” she said. “There will be apartments on top with also some retail around the bottom.” Higginbotham said there is a Cotton Belt coming, a train that will be four blocks down and run east and west. “It’s been in the works for about eight years now, and when it comes, this whole corridor will change to a huge mecca of shopping,” she said.
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The Et Cetera
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018
PUT IT ON YOUR
HARVESTER HIGHLIGHT
Psychology major places meaning in tattoos Calendar Wed
5
Psychology major Geneva Moiser, 21, discussed goals, school and tattoos with Deziree Ortega.
Thu
What do you do outside of school?
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December
Recital: Jazz Ensemble, 1 p.m., F-117 Free HIV testing, 9 a.m.1:30 p.m., Health Center Mobile food pantry, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., G building parking lot or G-101 in case of rain Choral Pops Concert, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., F-117
I mainly work, do homework and play with my dog.
Weekend College open house, 5-8 p.m., C-236 Study Abroad in Cuba Info Session, 6-7 p.m., G-204
Why did you choose psychology as your major? All sorts of things really. I have my own issues with mental illness. It’s something I want to figure out for myself and others. It’s something that runs in my family, so it’s an interesting topic for me to see how it affects other people, as well as to help other people. Did you ever go to therapy or counseling? I did for a long time when I was younger. I stopped when I was like 13 or 14. It definitely helped a lot. Do you have a professor at Eastfield who has impacted you? Yeah, my first psychology teacher, professor Thomas, was pretty cool and taught us a lot. I want to become a clinical psychologist. He taught us a lot about the ropes of getting (into that profession). Also, my second psychology teacher, professor Koshy Varghese, works at Parkland and Dallas County Jail and tells some cool stories. I noticed your tattoos. Do you have any you’d be willing to talk about? I’m not sure if you’ve seen this one – it’s a lamp on my thigh. It’s a Tiffany’s lamp my grandma gave me before she passed away, when I was young. So I got that tattooed on me and underneath it is her birthdate. That’s my favorite one. How old were you when you got your first tattoo? I was 16, and I definitely don’t recommend that. Did your parents know about it, or did you hide it? I hid it for a little while and then I ended up telling my mom. It’s a peace sign right in the middle of my foot. There’s no way in hiding that.
Fall Dance Concert, 7 p.m., Performance Hall
Fri
7
Mon
Stress Busters: Massages and Mashed Potato Bar, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-5 p.m., C-135A
Tue
Stress Busters: Therapy Dogs, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Library
Wed
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Stress Busters: Holiday Cards and Bath Fizzies, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Hive
Thu
Fall semester ends
Mon
Grades due
Tue
Family Financial Series Seminars, 5:30 p.m., Pleasant Grove campus
Fri
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College closes at 5 p.m. and remains closed through Jan. 1
Wed
Campus reopens
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Weekend College open house, 5-8 p.m., C-236
Wed
Last day to register for classes that start Jan. 22
Mon
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, campus closed
Tue
Spring classes begin
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PHOTOS BY JESUS AYALA/THE ET CETERA
Clockwise from top, psychology major Geneva Moiser got her first tattoo when she was 16, something she does not recommend others do. A tattoo on her ankle is her favorite. It shows a casket with a skeleton inside of it and the words “BAD LUCK” written on the side. Moiser has 24 tatoos, including an anchor on her right arm and a flower on her left arm.
11 13 17 18
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Couldn’t you wear socks? When you first get a tattoo you have it wrapped for a couple hours. Since it’s an open wound, you have to let it breathe, so I couldn’t wear anything that would rub up against it. So I told my mom, “Hey mom, I got this,” and she was so mad at me. Do you have any others you’d like to talk about? Probably this one. It says bad luck,
which is all I’ve really had. Also my favorite number is 13. I embrace it in a way. What motivates you? Honestly everything. My family and even my dog. Everything around me motivates me in a way. My classes motivate me to obviously do better. My family motivates me because I want to do right by them. My
mom sacrifices a lot for me to go to school. Where do you see yourself in five years? The cheapest option would be to stay in Texas for university, but I was thinking of applying to an American university in Paris. That’s something I really want to do. In five years I’d like to see myself somewhere in Europe or maybe Tokyo.
Fall Dance Concert, 7 p.m., Performance Hall
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January
Sports The Et Cetera
Dec. 5 Dec. 7 Dec. 8 Dec. 13
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Basketball vs. Trinity Valley 7 p.m. Basketball vs. North American University 7 p.m. Basketball vs. North American University 1 p.m. Basketball vs. Redlands 8 p.m.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018
JAMES HARTLEY/THE ET CETERA
Micah Turner cries after the Harvesters’ loss to Owens Community College. Owens, which stepped down from Division II to Division III this year, beat Eastfield 15-13 in the fifth set to claim the national title. Turner’s reaction was not unique among the squad.
‘They had such a hard team to fight’
Eastfield volleyball suffers defeat in five-set championship match By JAMES HARTLEY Digital Editor @ByJamesHartley
ROCHESTER, Minn. — It was the best game of volleyball Eastfield head coach Brandon Crisp said he’s ever seen. The Harvesters had come back from a two-set deficit in the third, tied the match in the fourth and were at the end of the fifth set of the national championship final. It was Owens Community College’s serve. The score was 14-13 and Owens needed to reach 15 with a two-point lead to win the match. The ball shot over the net toward Eastfield. Sophomore libero Maura Munoz dove to the right to dig it, but she didn’t make it in time. The ball bounced off the wooden court and into the crowd. When the ball hit the court in Owens’ match-winning 15th point, Munoz looked up to the ceiling and fell to her knees. She pulled her jersey up
to cover her face as she teared up. “That’s what a championship match should look like,” Crisp said. “It shouldn’t be a 3-0 sweep. It should be a 15-13, five set, leave everything on the court match.” The road to Rochester and the national tournament wasn’t easy. The Harvesters went undefeated in conference play in 2017. This year, they lost a match to Brookhaven and almost gave up their chance to host the Dallas Athletics Conference tournament, which decides who goes to the national championship tournament. In what sophomore outside hitter Kiki Reyes called a miracle, Brookhaven lost to North Lake in its next game and handed the host privileges back to Eastfield. “I remember getting that text and just running laps around the apartment,” Reyes said. “I was so excited because I know we play well on our own court.” Eastfield, with new motivation, squashed other district squads in the
DAC tournament. The two matches before the championship game were easier wins than the ones in conference play, two 3-0 victories — one over Lorain County Community College and one over Central Lakes College. The championship game against Owens was a very different tale. Eastfield dropped the first two matches, 25-20 and 25-17, and picked up wins in the third and fourth match, 25-20 and 25-19. “I remember it was 18-14 and I was just like, ‘no, this isn’t going to happen in just three sets,’ ” freshman defensive specialist Breana August said. “I remember telling Kiki, ‘you’ve got to put all your energy into this, just hit it as hard as you can.’ When we won that third set, then we won that fourth set, then we got that fifth set it was just kind of hectic.” Shelby Browning said that in the third set, Eastfield and Owens were two teams playing to their best ability. See Teammates, page 13 ➤
JAMES HARTLEY/THE ET CETERA
Maura Munoz gets ready to hit the ball after a diving dig by Catherine Mudd in the NJCAA national championship game.
SPORTS
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Wednesday, December 5, 2018
PHOTOS BY JAMES HARTLEY/THE ET CETERA
Clockwise from top left, the Harvesters cheer, “1, 2, 3, EFC,” in the locker room before the championship match against Owens Community College. Maura Munoz reacts to the loss against Owens. “It’s gonna hurt,” Eastfield head coach Brandon Crisp told the volleyball team after their loss to Owens Community College in the NJCAA national championship tournament. Crisp told the squad he was proud of their performance in the match and that they fought like champions.
Teammates are everything for Eastfield volleyball Continued from page 12 “You don’t see that very often,” she said. The fifth set started with an early lead for Eastfield. But Owens turned the tide, grabbing a 10-7 lead as Crisp called a timeout. “If you go out there and you have fun, everything else will fall into place,” he said during the time-out. “This team can win.” They were close. The Harvesters came back out and tied the set up 1111, then lost control of the serve. The final score of 15-13 was devastating for the squad, especially the sophomores. Reyes, Kalli Caddell, Alex McPherson, Naisjah Rivera, Jade
Turner, Mica Turner and Chloe Hope and Munoz had just played their last game as Harvesters. It was also the last game for third-year team manager Alyssa Tomlin. “Not a lot of us are from this area and so being able to come here and bond as deeply as we did was truly a blessing,” Reyes said. “This was truly my second family. I can talk to them and just be honest with them and I know they would be there for me. You don’t really get that anywhere else. … It’s wonderful to know that five years from now I could call anyone here and they would be there for me.” These sophomores had been through a lot together — a national title last year, a hard-fought confer-
ence championship this year and even a special Pink-Out match to bring attention to Munoz’s mother’s fight against cancer — but as is the nature of two-year sports, their time as a team was limited. After the game, the team gathered in the locker room and the sophomores shared stories and memories about their time with the Harvesters — a team tradition. “You guys changed my life,” Caddell said. “You’ve become my family, and I don’t say that lightly.” Munoz recalled the support she received from the squad when she told them about her mother’s cancer — a rough memory for most of the team — and Alex McPherson cried as she recalled the way the team
helped her break out of her shell, on and off the court, and play fearlessly. It was an emotional moment for Crisp, too. He told the players how, when the team showed up in Rochester three years before, nobody knew who they were. “You girls have changed this program so much,” Crisp said. “I am so proud of you.” The program changed the players’ lives, too. “I had never won a game before I came to Eastfield,” Munoz said. “And last year I was part of the national championship team? And this year second in the nation? It has changed my life.” Caddell didn’t think she would ever play volleyball again after high
school. She had applied to two universities and never heard back from one. She was called the “second choice” by the other. Crisp was the only coach to offer the 2018 All Tournament team member a spot on a squad. “You believed in me when nobody else did,” Caddell told Crisp. “You can’t know what that means. That just means so much.” Crisp grabbed a Kleenex to wipe his eyes as they welled up. “I’m just so proud of this group,” he said after the team meeting. “I said at the beginning of the season that they had the potential to be better than last year’s squad. I think they recognized their potential. They just had such a hard team to fight.”
opinion
14 www.eastfieldnews.com
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Etera
Letters to the Editor
Get loans later
Award-winning member of: • Texas Intercollegiate Press Association • Texas Community College Journalism Association • Associated Collegiate Press • College Media Association
Eastfield College 3737 Motley Drive Mesquite, TX 75150 Phone: 972-860-7130 Email: etc4640@dcccd.edu Editor in Chief Aria Jones Managing Editor Yesenia Alvarado Photo Editor Jesus Ayala Opinion Editor Andrew Walter Digital Editor James Hartley Graphic Design Editor Mateo Corey Multimedia Editor Esther Moreno Senior Videographer David Silva Senior Graphic Designer Manuel Guapo Staff Writers Macks Prewitt Cameron R. Cook Alexis Rodriguez Aji Mariam
OUR VIEW
Photographers Jonathan Diaz Rory Moore Kate Arrows Enoire Graphic Artists Anthony Lazon Aldahir Segovia Brice Washington Reporters James Eyre Jessica Reyna Sonia Hernandez
Abednego Leal Daisy Araujo Jackie Trevino Samuel Farley Jocyln Ventura
Editorial Assistant Marie Garcia Student Media Manager Sarah Sheldon Publications Adviser Elizabeth Langton Faculty Adviser Lori Dann The views expressed on the opinion pages and other opinion pieces and cartoons in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Et Cetera, Eastfield College or the Dallas County Community College District. The Et Cetera is published every two weeks — except December, January and summer months — by a student staff. Each member of the college community is entitled to one free copy of The Et Cetera. First Amendment Right Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Letters to the Editor Letters must be typed, signed and include a phone number. Letters will be edited for profanity and vulgarity, Associated Press style, grammar, libel and space when needed. The content will remain that of the author. Letters considered for publication must be 250 words or fewer. Deliver to room N-240 or send to etc4640@dcccd.edu.
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‘Inclusive tuition’ to cover textbooks not best option After a recent proposal to the Dallas County Community College District board, the district is considering implementing a new “inclusive tuition” plan. While the proposal would cut the average DCCCD student textbook costs by more than 50 percent, it would do so by effectively raising the overall tuition costs for many students and limiting the methods in which students can acquire textbooks. In a Nov. 26 email sent to faculty and staff, terms like “a transition to an inclusive tuition” and “removing barriers to success” are used to describe processes in the proposal that would raise tuition costs for all, but not to the benefit of everyone, and would remove their freedom to search for cheaper alternatives such as used or rental textbooks. This proposal was likely made with good intentions, but how could raising tuition costs and eliminating the textbook market help students when college tuition costs have been steadily outpacing inflation for several years? The cost of textbooks in the U.S. has risen more than 1,000 (yes, one thousand) percent, or more than three times the rate of inflation, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The DCCCD may counter this argument by citing their presentation about the average cost per credit hour dropping, but think about the staggering price differences of many textbooks between all academic disciplines.
Students who generally pay below $50 or less for their textbooks shouldn’t be forced to pay more to help students who spend more than $150 on textbooks. The DCCCD presentation claims “77 percent of faculty use required textbooks in class almost every class,” but many students can attest that this isn’t the case — many professors teach students everything they need to know in lecture — so having an additional $60 or $80 slapped on to some students’ tuition certainly won’t help. The sources of information and statistics provided by the DCCCD are also unclear. The district uses the Follett bookstores on campus as a source, according to the district’s chief financial officer. But neither the DCCCD nor Follett has replied to emails requesting the methodology of the study. Did Follett find out how many students bought books from sources other than the bookstore? Did they consider classes that did not require textbooks? These factors could affect the argument for raising tuition. Open-source textbooks and learning materials are a topic that we believe the student body would be more accepting of, not one that raises the price of textbooks for some students and lowers it for others. This is “textbook socialism” waiting to go wrong. We think there must be a better way. We hope the district considers all alternatives and acts in a way beneficial to all students.
On Nov. 7, there was an article published about student loans that needs clarification. The Financial Aid Office doesn’t recommend that students borrow loans at Eastfield to save for the university. What we recommend is that students wait until they get to the university to borrow the loan funding. The Department of Education requires that we award students for all the aid they are eligible for. Because we have to offer these funds does not mean students are obligated to accept the award. With a low tuition rate, almost all Pell Grant eligible students have these funds to cover the cost of tuition and books with funds left over to help with other educational related expenses. Students need to look to the future when thinking of taking out a loan as this creates debt. The more debt a person has, the harder it can be to rent an apartment, buy a car or house. There are a couple of ways students may owe funds back. First, all students that receive the Pell Grant must become academically active to become eligible for the funds. Prior to the certification day, the funds that are placed on the student account to pay tuition and send out the book advance are institutional funds. Funds are not drawn down from the Department of Education until a class is certified as attending. The second way is if a student withdraws before 60 percent of the semester is completed. Karen Lazarz Director of Financial Aid
Punny comic strip Dear Et Cetera Staff and especially cartoonist Abednego Leal, It was first with great pride and joy that I read Mr. Leal’s Awkward Avocado comic strip titled, “The Pun-ishing Duo.” However, my joy soon turned to dismay at having now been cast as a comic strip-per! Was someone watching as I saw the House of Representatives turn blue and did some poll dancing in the privacy of my own home? I hope not, as I plan to continue with impun-ity! Regards, professor and pun-dit, Dr. Cindy Castañeda
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Wrap Up Wednesday, December 5, 2018
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Awkward Avocado By Abednego Leal
The Et Cetera
Students could share book costs Continued from page 2
Guest choreographer designs dances that blend improv, scripted motions By CAMERON R. COOK Staff Writer @Cameron_ETC
Guest choreographer Daniel Martinez wants to challenge his audiences’ perception of what dance is with this year’s Fall Dance Concert. It’s something he’s discussed with his performers. “Maybe you don’t have to move in a certain way, maybe you can do awkward shapes with your body, stuff like that,” Martinez said. The Eastfield Dance Company will perform Dec. 6 and 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Performance Hall. The concert consists of two acts and a total of 14 dances. Most dances will have a combination of choreographed pieces and improvisation. Dance Program Coordinator Danielle Georgiou will be instructing the dancers along with guest choreographers Martinez, Jasmine Morris and Colby Calhoun. In her first semester at Eastfield, dance major Sarah Mendez said she is enjoying the program. “It’s different, but different in a really, really good way,” Mendez said. Since the group is somewhat smaller than many school programs, she said that she has had more opportunities to contribute than at other institutions. Mendez has been dancing since she was 5 years old. As a dance major, she said she needs a place to start expanding her choreography. “I followed Danielle’s work on Instagram and I recently just became interested in [Eastfield’s] dance program last semester when I was at Richland,” she said.
JESUS AYALA/THE ET CETERA
Cristyn Boyd practices the dance piece Limbo, a production of Danielle Georgiou.
Mendez said she knew that students had chances to choreograph movements, be nurtured and gain skills necessary to succeed. Georgiou is a professional dancer and choreographer, dancing for 30plus years, and running her own dance theater company for the last eight years. She has been working at Eastfield for seven years. When she first started teaching at Eastfield, she said the school had only two courses in dance. Georgiou creates the department and the curriculum now, a pathway she said many students use to earn their associate degree in dance. “It was really great to come here and be sort of the entry-level for a lot of students who have never danced before,” Georgiou said. “To show them if you want to pursue an artistic form, you can have a career and you can be successful at it.” Georgiou recently earned her doctorate from the University of Tex-
as at Dallas. Her goal is to make an audience question if what they see is dance, or if it’s theater. She said she doesn’t make it easy by laying out what the performance is about or what it means. She wants the audience to feel like they are a part of it. “Performance is a conversation, it’s an ongoing dialogue,” Georgiou said. “It doesn’t stop when the curtain goes down. It continues on… so that the performance lives on past its one night only moment.” Guest choreographer Martinez is also an adjunct professor of art at Eastfield. He said he originally found out who Georgiou was through the Dallas art scene when he was still in graduate school and decided to start taking her classes. After graduating and beginning to teach at the school last year, he asked her if he could do a sort of seminar. Mendez said she has learned a lot through these teachings. “Working with the guest choreographers has been really great,” Mendez said. “We’ve been doing these little workshops where we play with light or play with fabric, and also we’ve done a body drawing workshop as well.” Mendez said it was like a dream come true that she was now learning to choreograph. “Everything I’ve taught the dance company this semester has been all from an art perspective or context,” Martinez said. “I’ve shown them more artists who are working in a cross-disciplinary way of making objects and dancing with them or moving with them or performing with them or utilizing objects in their performance in some way.”
“The tuition increase will be applied to all courses because tuition is used to cover costs across college programs that vary in terms of learning space, materials, equipment, etc,” the message read. “Tuition has been and will continue to be an averaged cost — a cost equal for all students that is distributed equitably.” Government professor Stacey Jurhree said that it seems like a good idea only if students can have their books on the first day of class. With eight-week classes, he said students can’t wait until the third or fourth week to get their books. The faster pace means by that time, students would already be at risk for failing the class. He said that during this eightweek term he has students who claim they don’t have the book, and it shows in their work. “Now, when they don’t do well on tests, they can’t lie and say, ‘Well I don’t have a book,’ ” Jurhree said. “No, you get it the first day. So that’s one advantage for us.” He said an advantage is that this would balance the cost between some books, with math books generally costing much more than history or government books. Atziri Collazo, a psychology major, said this proposal would help her, and the increase isn’t much at all. “I don’t have a job,” she said. “So I don’t get to get the books until I get financial aid.” Robertson, the chief financial officer, said students who receive financial aid but choose not to buy books would now have the learning materials to be successful. “Almost 40 percent of our students are on Pell grants, and Pell grants will pay for this,” he said. “Students will still have that money available for them because we’ll have a higher cost of attendance that allows them to continue to get their Pell money.” According to the PowerPoint presented to the board Oct. 2, nearly 83 percent of students agree they’d like to get course materials for a single reduced fee as part of tuition. Only 28 percent of students have all required materials on day one, and 77 percent of faculty use required textbooks in class almost every day.
The most important factors for students when purchasing course materials were listed as: getting the best price (81 percent), my professor said I needed it (75 percent), convenience (63 percent) and how quickly they can obtain material (50 percent). The district could not point The Et Cetera to the source of that data, saying Follett provided the information. Follett did not reply to numerous calls and emails requesting the source of their information or methodology for gathering the numbers. Science major Andrew Kingsman said that the tuition increase would give students more incentive to pay for their books up front rather than worrying about it later. He said he has seen students struggle with getting textbooks. The district said the increased use of low or no cost options for class materials would allow it to renegotiate with Follett in the future for a lower cost to students. Robertson said an advantage to the deal is that faculty can continue to use the same materials they’ve used for their classes before, but if it is available in a digital version they would need to use that one. He also said there are three things they can do to help drive down the price of textbooks: using open education resources, using the digital version of a book and standardizing textbooks across the district. “This is a commodity-based business and volume has a price effect,” Robertson said. “But I’m not requiring them to do that.” Robertson said he has a team of about 15 people working with him to hear concerns from students and faculty and that he will continue to have meetings with Follett. He said that faculty haven’t been involved in the Follett deal itself because it is an administrative, contractual function of what they’re trying to do. “While I said we’ve been working on this for two years, we finally got what we wanted, to be what I thought would be acceptable to faculty, puts the books in students’ hands and meets a price point that is affordable for all students.” — Alexis Rodriguez contributed to this report
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The Et Cetera
Wednesday, December 5, 2018