The anger Volume 93 • Issue 10 San Antonio College A forum of free voices since 1926
Feb. 18, 2019 WWW.THERANGER.ORG
ASL program uses online software to enhance curriculum Students have access to ASL resource labs in Nail. By Marissa Macias sac-ranger@alamo.edu Students in American Sign Language and interpreter training courses use videos created in GoReact to turn in assignments that show their progress in signing. ASL students are required to record themselves signing and turn it into their professor for feedback.
“I have even more information as a teacher,” Coordinator Julie Razuri said Feb. 6. Through the online software GoReact, selfdiagnosing and receiving comments from professors has proved to be the best advancement in that curriculum, Razuri said. “Because ASL is visual, we’ve always had to turn in a visual format for homework and testing,” she said. Before computer software was created to do this, everything was turned in on VHS tapes, Razuri said.
With technological developments like CD ROMS, Dropbox, USBs and now online sharing platforms, the ways of distributing the course material continue to evolve, she said. GoReact also eliminates difficulties such as lagging and low quality videos, which were common in older technologies when students were assigned to self-record. The picture quality has gotten better and better, Razuri said. “Every word is on the hands, the body, the face,
so we need to see all of those things very clearly,” Razuri said. Part of the course curriculum requires students to sign alongside instructional videos while recording their movements. Students and professors can pinpoint when and where improvements need to be made while comparing the two videos side by side. “I have the original source, their side and their own self-analysis,” she said. “I can help in so many
See ASL, Page 2
Students say Alamo Promise unfair to the current hard-working ones Academic adviser says higher education should be free. By Sergio Medina smedina104@student.alamo.edu
Veterinary technician freshman Jose Banda rides a mechanical bull during the Campus Activity Board’s Wild West Rodeo Roundup Feb. 11 in the mall. Banda said he wanted to try riding the bull. Student organizations such as the Anime and Boxing clubs sold food and drinks. Mitchell Gawlik
Hardworking students with high GPAs should receive incentives such as lower tuition, four international students said in an interview Feb. 12. The feedback came after learning of Alamo Promise, a program that will cover tuition for incoming high school seniors in fall 2020. To qualify, students need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0. Tuition not covered by federal aid will be paid for by the “last-dollar scholarship.” Business freshman Anne Tabart said she was surprised at the few requirements needed for Promise. “I just find that, maybe, a bit unfair,” she said. “For example, a student who has a 3.0 and doesn’t have any aid because, I don’t know, his parents have money or whatever — if I was this student, ‘I am American, I have good grades and I don’t get anything?’ I just find that a bit unfair.” Environmental science freshman Caterina Beverati said the idea behind Promise can encourage more students to get a higher-education degree, dispelling financial or self-confidence worries. “But at the same time, I’d say they should also do something for the students that are good — good GPA or something like that,” she said. Business administration freshman Gustavo Gonzalez said, “I think it would benefit it more if, for the students that have a higher GPA and are doing good, for them to get more like a room or something so they don’t have to pay for, you know, housing or food or, you know, stuff like that.” He said Promise overlooks students
Faculty Senate discusses proposal to revive tenure Senators suggest productive grade rates should vary. By Rogelio Escamilla rescamilla69@student.alamo.edu A tenure reinstatement proposal will be ready for Faculty Senate President Lenny Irvin by the next meeting March 8, English Professor Patricia Portales, the Faculty Senate research sub-committee chair, said. Faculty Senate met Feb. 8 to provide updates on morale, the 70 percent productive grade rate and tenure reinstatement.
Tenure for new hires was removed in 2011 under former Chancellor Bruce Leslie. Any faculty who had tenure or were in the seven-year process of earning tenure were not impacted by the removal. In a faculty survey last semester, 84.2 percent of the 153 respondents agreed with the statement “I support the reinstatement of tenure.” One hundred and four of them selected “strongly agree.” Under the faculty morale section, 75 percent agreed with the statement “I make a difference at SAC,” while 38 percent agreed with
the statement “my contributions are appreciated at SAC.” Portales said faculty were shocked when tenure was removed from Alamo Colleges’ policy. She said new faculty often look for schools offering tenure when looking for a job. “The majority (of faculty) would like to reinstate tenure,” she said. “And we think it’ll attract and retain new faculty. We have a lot of faculty right now who are just on contract, and they’re very nervous about their job security.” A tenured position, according to the
See TENURE, Page 2
who do not file FAFSA. “I kind of feel like if you have to enroll in FAFSA, that’s kind of screwing a lot of people over because not everyone can do FAFSA — I can’t do FAFSA,” he said. “It’s kind of like they’re trying to do something good for the community, but at the same time, they’re kind of throwing this thing in the middle — kind of like a blockade.” Tabart said it’s more beneficial to encourage people who are already in. Cybersecurity freshman Bruno Bogado said outstanding students should be charged less tuition at their university of choice when transferring. “If they have a higher GPA, or they’re doing way better than the average student, then you should at least consider giving them a discount at another university,” he said. “A scholarship, definitely something that will help them out.” Academic adviser Fidel Bém said higher education should be free for all. “We are supposedly in a developed nation, first-world country, and we are asking — I’m not even talking about international students — we’re asking the citizens of this country to take out loans to get what should be a right — an education, a basic education,” Bém said. “K through 12 is not a basic education in this day and age. Even a bachelor’s degree is a basic education. “That is why things like Alamo Promise are wonderful. They’re aspirational, but it shouldn’t even need to exist,” he added. “Every student that comes here should have the ability to go to school and not have to worry about how much debt they’re going to be in, whether you’re indistrict, out-of-district or out-of-country. In a democracy, an educated population is an expectation of a democracy.”
English Professor Patricia Portales talks tenure reinstatement at a Faculty Senate meeting Feb. 8 in Room 204 of the Victory Center. Tenure is the status of indefinite employment protecting professors from termination because of speech and research. It was discontinued in 2011 under Chancellor Bruce Leslie. Amaru Ruiz