Vol. 154, Issue 2, Sept. 5- Sept. 18, 2012
City College
of
San Francisco’s Newspaper
since
1935 | TheGuardsman.com | @SfBreakingNews
Rams victorious over Vikings after near loss Photo courtesy of Leslie Smith.
Vice-chancellor retires after three decades of service to City College students By Jandean Deocampo THE GUARDSMAN / @BANANAISAFRUIT / JDEOCAMPO@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
After 30 years of fighting for student welfare and support, Leslie Smith, City College’s associate vice-chancellor of governmental relations, has retired on Aug. 10 to pursue her art. “It’s a rough decision, because the community colleges are such a wonderful institution,” Smith said, expounding on her reasons and her future plans. “I was originally a studio art major. I plan to become a full-time artist.” A graduate of UCSB, Smith also went to Tulane University and visited the Louisiana Delta and Mexico before settling back in California. She built her long career at City College, focusing on equality of opportunity and student welfare. Leslie Smith had always had a passion for equality. Born and raised in Livermore, Calif., she grew up in a house where social justice was held in high esteem. “My father was a poli-sci major in Berkeley,” Smith said. “We did not talk about what the neighbors were doing. We talked about how you stand up and fight for your rights.” Smith attended UCSB with a focus on studio arts and then switched her major when she realized she had only taken one art class—Ceramics. The field of Cultural Anthropology drew her in, influencing her later major: Pre-Columbian Culture of the New World, which was based on a strong interest in Mesoamerican culture. LESLIE SMITH: PAGE 2
INSIDE: Culinary students cook up a plan to save program Pg. 2 OPINION: The cost of textbooks sucks Pg. 3 Photo Story: A look at Chinatown/Northbeach Pg. 4-5 Mediterranean food debuts at Ocean campus Pg. 6
The City College Rams defense tackles a Diablo Valley College football player during the 2012 season opener at Ram Stadium on Sept. 1, 2012. Photo by Shane Menez/The Guardsman
City College’s football champions stumble during the first half of the season opener but pick up the pieces to maintain their winning streak. Read the full story on page 8.
Budget cuts target journalism programs at community colleges An original illustration by past City College student Nadja Martens, titled, “Snow White & Rose Red,” was created using acrylic on canvas and is currently on gallery display as part of the ANALOG: Illustration Alumni Show in the Visual Arts Building, Room 119, at Ocean Campus. . Photo by James Fanucchi/The Guardsman
“Wonderland” conjures dystopia, fantasy and artistic ambition By Jandean Deocampo THE GUARDSMAN / @BANANAISAFRUIT / JDEOCAMPO@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
Analog: Illustration Alumni Show, City College’s latest art exhibit, showcases the work of both current students and alumni of Art 136. The show is a dreamscape that weaves together different themes into a narrative full of opposites, parallels and abstractions. A couple dozen people, including the artists, guests and faculty, gathered Aug. 27 for a reception at the City College Art Gallery on Ocean campus. “It’s like looking into a fractal,” said Jerry Bertrand, a physicist and scent specialist, referring to Karen Tse’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a detailed drawing that is one of many pieces in
the gallery that visually interprets Lewis Carroll’s famous book. Though there was no common theme, one can see a definite thread of enchantment between the artists’ pieces and, beneath it all, a sort of ordered chaos. Joriz Madrid’s Favela is a painted cardboard pop-out wasteland featuring a honeycombed pattern of burnt sky and rust. It overlooks a section of Rio de Janeiro with two young figures looming in the foreground. The artist cited the Brazilian film “City of God” as an influence for the visual aesthetic of the piece. “Most of them use watercolors. Some use acrylic. We even have mixed media,” said exhibition curator Inna Razumova, who worked with the artists to build GALLERY: PAGE 6
By Marilyn Fernando THE GUARDSMAN / @ESORNYLIRAM / MFERNANDO@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
The head of the Journalism Department at College of San Mateo retired on Aug. 31 after 23 years of service. Issues related to low enrollment, course cuts and conflicts with administration over the student run newspaper, The San Matean, were blamed. “With no Journalism classes on the horizon and all efforts to remedy enrollment problems either failed or were thwarted, the most natural step at age 62 was to take retirement,” Ed Remitz wrote in a farewell letter to colleagues. Remitz advised the students who ran the school newspaper. “There was an ongoing disagreement,” Remitz said. “Administration wanted a different sort of publication.” The administration enforced a Program Improvement and Viability Process, which ultimately decided the fate of the department. Remitz said the program shut down The San Matean and then a similar paper started that was mandated by administration. In order to salvage what was
left of the journalism department, some classes were moved to Skyline, a branch of College of San Mateo, and other classes were integrated into the the digital media department. San Jose City College’s journalism department is also fighting to keep crucial newspaper production courses intact this semester. “It’s very unstable,” said Farideh Dada, a San Jose journalism instructor, regarding the status of newspaper production classes. Classes in jeopardy of being cu were reinstated until Sept. 4 Dada said. Courses will continue to run if they have a minimum of 20 students, otherwise they will be cancelled. “Once the classes are cancelled, online editions and the newspaper will stop running,” Dada said. The same rule applies to the journalism department at San Mateo. “The enrollment for journalism classes last semester had classes that had zero, two, three and six students and we just can’t afford to run a class on that little of people,” said Beverly Madden, JOURNALISM: PAGE 2