The Ranger 10-24-11

Vol. 86 Issue 7

Single copies free

Oct. 24, 2011

THE RANGER A forum of free voices serving San Antonio College since 1926

State nibbles at core

TO THE BATMOBILE! 9 VOTE FOR LOANS 10 OF TAXIS AND LOSS 14 Photo by Casandra Gonzales

Calendar

2 • Oct. 24, 2011 For coverage in Calendar, call 210-486-1773 or e-mail sac-ranger@alamo.edu two weeks in advance.

Today SAC Deadline: President’s Scholarship holiday card designs due by 4 p.m.

Wednesday in Room 323 of Fletcher. Call 210-486-0956.

SAC Deadline: Graduation applications due in Room 216 of Fletcher. Continues through Nov. 4. Call 210-486-0200.

SAC Event: Karaoke 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in Fiesta Room of Loftin. Continues Nov. 7.

Call 210-486-0128.

SAC Event: Tryouts for Nov. 9 talent show sponsored by office of student life 2 p.m.-4 p.m. in Fiesta Room of Loftin.

Continues Tuesday. Call 210-486-0128.

SAC Meeting: Campus Activities Board 4 p.m.-5 p.m. in faculty and staff lounge of Loftin. Call 210-486-0125.

Tuesday

NLC Event: Student forum with Chancellor Bruce Leslie 2 p.m. in Room 211 of the library. Call 210-486-5404.

The Ranger

$20 in advance, $25 at the door. Must be 21 or older. Call 210-458-2269.

Oct. 31

SAC Transfer: Texas A&M UniversitySan Antonio 2:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. by appointment in transfer center. Call 210486-0864.

SAC Meeting: Students United for the DREAM Act 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. in cafeteria of Loftin. Continues Thursdays. Call 210-683-5879.

NVC Play: “Dracula” directed by Tim Hedgpeth 8 p.m. in auditorium of Palmetto. $3 for students with an Alamo Colleges ID, $5-$10 others. Continues through Saturday and Nov. 3-5. Call 210486-4527.

Friday SAC Transfer: Texas A&M University 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. by appointment in transfer center. Call 210486-0864.

SAC Transfer: Dallas Baptist University 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on first floor of chance. Call 210-486-0864.

SAC Meeting: Onstage Drama Club noon in Room 226 of McCreless.

Continues Fridays. Call 210-486-0492.

SAC Meeting: Campus Crusade for Christ 1:30 p.m. in Room 113 of chemistry and geology. Continues Tuesdays. Call 210-486-1233.

Saturday

SAC Transfer: University of Texas at San Antonio 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m. on first floor of Chance. Continues 12:30 p.m.-3 p.m. by appointment in transfer center. Call 210-486-0864.

SAC Event: Halloween costume contest sponsored by office of student life noon1:30 p.m. in Loftin. Call 210-486-0125.

SAC Event: Pumpkin-car ving contest sponsored by office of student life noon-1 p.m. in Loftin. Call 210-4860125.

SAC Transfer: University of the Incarnate Word 3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. on first floor of Chance. Call 210-4860864.

Nov. 1

SAC Event: SAC Amazing Race sponsored by office of student life 2 p.m.-4 p.m. in mall. Call 210-486-0126.

Thursday SAC Transfer: Transfer Fair 9 a.m.-noon in the Fiesta Room in Loftin. Call 210486-0864.

SPC Event: President’s lecture series “Domestic Violence” 11 a.m.-noon in auditorium of Watson. Call 210-486-2325.

SAC Transfer: University of Texas at San Antonio 1 p.m.-3 p.m. by appointment in transfer center. Call 210-486-0864.

Tour: Eastside Cemeteries Tour sponsored by Office of Historic Preservation 8:30 a.m. at Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry. Fee $15. Call 210-207-1496.

SAC Hot Potato: “Coercive Christianity”

by John Feagins 12:15 p.m.–1:15 p.m. at Methodist Student Center, 102 Belknap.

Call 210-733-1441.

Financial Trouble” sponsored by office of student life 1 p.m.-2 p.m. in the Fiesta Room of Loftin. Continues Nov. 9. Call 210-486-0126.

SAC Meeting: Psi Beta 3 p.m.-4 p.m. in Room 642 of Moody. Continues Wednesdays. Call 210-486-1264 or email rross41@alamo.edu.

SAC Meeting: Gay and Lesbian Association 3 p.m.-4 p.m. in Room 644 of Moody. Call 210-486-0673.

SAC Meeting: Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. in MESA Center. Continues Wednesdays. Call 210486-0342 or email mpackard2@alamo.edu.

Nov. 3 SAC Event: “Mortal Kombat” Tournament 2 p.m.-4 p.m. in cyber café of Loftin. Call 210-486-0126.

Nov. 4 SAC Event: Live in Loftin music series featuring Dub Gideon 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Fiesta Room of Loftin. Call 210-4860125.

SAC Event: Outdoor movie “Captain America” 7 p.m.-10 p.m. in mall. Call 210-486-0125.

Nov. 7 SAC Transfer: Concordia University 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m. on first floor of Chance.

Call 210-486-0864.

Nov. 2 Nov. 8

SAC Event: Coffee Open Mic Night sponsored by Cheshyre Cheese Club and office of student life 6 p.m.-9 p.m. in Loftin. Call 210-486-0125.

SAC Event: “The Little Star that Could” 6:30 p.m., “Secret Lives of Stars” 7:45 p.m. and “Extreme Planets” 9 p.m. in Scobee Planetarium. $2 with Alamo Colleges ID, and children 4-17. Others $3-$5. Continues Fridays. Call 210-486-0100.

Event: Dance with the Dead 8 p.m.midnight at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

SAC Transfer: St. Mary’s University 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on first floor of Chance. Call 210-486-0864.

SAC Transfer: Our Lady of the Lake University 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on first floor of Chance. Call 210-486-0864.

SAC Meeting: Black Student Alliance 12:30 p.m. in Room 613 of Moody.

Continues Wednesdays. Call 210-4860593.

SAC Event: Money matters series “In

SAC Transfer: University of the Incarnate Word 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on first floor of Chance. Call 210-486-0864.

Calendar Legend SAC: San Antonio College NVC: Northwest Vista College SPC: St. Philip’s College SWC: Southwest Campus PAC: Palo Alto College NLC: Northeast Lakeview College AC: Alamo Colleges

The Ranger

News

Oct. 24, 2011 • 3

Legal counsel upholds gag order Legal action group is concerned about selective enforcement of retirement rule.

(retirees) shall not respond to or participate in any public discussion or other publicity concerning or relating to your employment with, resignation or separation from Alamo Colleges.”

By J. Almendarez At last month’s regular board meeting on Sept. 20, math Professor Gerald Busald, After convening in executive session for who also serves as president of the Alamo nearly half an hour at district committee meetCommunity College District Faculty Legal ings Tuesday, the district’s legal counsel upheld Action Association, said the association was the legality of wording in a release contract advised that the wording is illegal. signed by employees accepting early retirement He encouraged the board of trustees to send incentives this year under a gag order. retirees an amended contract without the gag Early retirement incentives order clause. allowed employees to accept an Busald also questioned the option to retire and receive 70 permorality and motive behind a gag cent or 50 percent of current salary order in the release of a publicfor one year, depending on when ly employed person, heightened they opted to retire. by the fact that retirees signed an Retirees agreed to ineligibility agreement to accept their contract for full-time employment with the before they were able to read it. district for two years.

When accepting the incentives The retirement of higher paid, to retire, they agreed their decision Dan Stern of Cox Smith veteran employees is estimated to was final and any attempt to revoke save the district $800,000 a year the commitment to early retirement because the district will replace only “neceswould result in termination. sary” vacant positions.

While the board was in executive session Other full-time faculty positions deemed with legal counsel, Busald said, “Hopefully, unnecessary will be replaced with adjunct faculty. they’re going to do the right thing.”

The contract also states, “… you agree not Legal representative Dan Stern of Cox Smith to make derogatory or disparaging remarks said, “We have found nothing to indicate the regarding Alamo Colleges, your employment or agreement is in any way illegal.” your separation from employment with Alamo Busald said he also is concerned about the Colleges, unless compelled to do so by a subdistrict’s selective enforcement of the wording. poena or court order following written notice to For instance, at last month’s regular board Alamo Colleges.” meeting, several retirees discussed their employIt also states, “except as required by appliment with the district at the podium while cable law, the terms and conditions of this receiving awards for their service to the district. agreement shall remain confidential and you Busald said discussion of their employment

Tuesday’s agenda Trustees will hear from the chancellor on extending retirement incentives to vice chancellors at next week’s regular board meeting at 6 p.m.

Oct. 25 in Room 101 at Killen Center, 201 W. Sheridan.

Registration for citizens-to-be-heard in the regular board meeting is 5 p.m.5:55 p.m. at the entrance of the board room.

A Policy and Long-Range Planning Committee will precede the meeting at 5:30 p.m. when social sciences and humanities Chair Paul Wilson will make a presentation on tenure on behalf of the faculty.

For the meeting agendas, log on to www.alamo.edu, click on About Us, then Board of Trustees and then Meeting Agendas.

was a violation of the gag order.

Therefore, the trustees’ lack of action against them proves the order was meant only to prevent former employees from making negative comments about the district.

“Selective enforcement is illegal,” he said.

District 7 trustee Blakely Fernandez said it would be the board’s decision to choose to reprimand people who discussed their employment with the district, but she thinks it would be unreasonable to punish those employees.

Trustees unanimously charged the chancellor with initiating correspondence with retirees, but it is unclear what that correspondence will contain. The chancellor was at a conference Wednesday and unavailable to comment.

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8/25/11 11:43 AM

4 • Oct. 24, 2011

People

The Ranger

Celso Guzman, district director of diversity recruitment and program development, encourages employees to donate Wednesday to “SAC Giving Back.” The campaign returns to the mall Nov. 9. The goal is to raise last year’s 28 percent participation to 50 percent. Jacob Beltran

Jacob Wong, president of Student Government Association, discusses disabled parking regulations on campus.SGA meets at noon the first three Mondays each month in the employee lounge in Loftin.

Jennifer Coronado

Groundskeeper Mark Mireles holds a shovel as Agapito Flores works the root ball of a young Mexican sycamore tree into the hole they have prepared Oct. 14 on the north side of chemistry and geology.

Rennie Murrell

The Ranger

News

Oct. 24, 2011 • 5

Scientists debate faster than speed-of-light claim

By Sebastian Carter

also sent neutrinos through the Earth, to the bottom of the Soudan mine in Minnesota.

Einstein may have been wrong about The experiments began in 2005, but in the theory of relativity, as physicists have 2007, incidentally resulted in physicists observed neutrinos traveling faster than observing neutrinos exceeding the speed of light, but don’t throw away your textbooks light, but the data was within the margin of just yet. Two physics professors at this colerror and so was dismissed. The physicists lege, William Waggoner and Jerry O’Connor, who reported it work for CERN. chair of physics, engineering, architecture Neutrinos are subatomic particles often and engineering technologies, are skeptical. referred to as “ghost particles,” because of Physicists at CERN clocked the neuthe difficulty in detecting them despite their trinos as traveling 60 nanoseconds fastabundance, and their ability to pass through er than the speed of light, with a marnormal matter. The experiment, called the gin of error of 10 nanoseconds. The speed Oscillation Project with Emulsion Tracking of light is 299,792,458 meters per second, Apparatus, or OPERA, shot neutrinos, which or 0.299792458 meters per nanosecond. don’t react with normal particles because CERN stands for Conseil Européen pour they are electrically neutral, through the la Recherche Nucléaire, the convention in Earth to the Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Western Europe Nucleare’s Gran that established Sasso labs in the organization Italy about 120 in 1954. kilometers from The theory Rome. of relativity is The OPERA Dr. William Waggoner an encompassexperiments, physics professor ing of two of which began Einstein’s theoin 2008, were ries, special relativity and general relativity. designed to detect tau-neutrinos from the Special relativity is the theory of the structransmutation of muon-neutrinos during ture of space-time, including the famous travel. Muon-neutrinos and tau-neutrinos equation, mass-energy equivalence, which are subatomic lepton particles, both commakes objects with mass traveling at the posing the third generation of leptons. speed of light impossible.

Leptons are constituents of matter, The results, which would appear to conwhich can be charged or neutral. tradict Einstein’s theory of relativity, have Waggoner said the first thing they should been replicated in multiple experiments at verify is the accuracy of the measurement of CERN but await independent replication in distance between the two facilities. He said the interest of scientific transparency. nobody should have said anything to the Fermilab, a physics lab near Batavia, Ill., media without independent and repeated plans to revive an experiment called MINOS replication of the result. for Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation He said he’s skeptical because previous Search, in an attempt to experiments contradict the possible conclureplicate the speed sion because charged neutrinos have been results in a simiobserved traveling under the speed of light. lar experiment.

One such experiment took place in the Fermilab’s Kamioka NDE-II, a neutrino observatory original located under Mount Kamioka near Hida, M I N O S Japan, according to IOP Science, a publisher experiment of numerous science journals.

“‘Star Trek’ doesn’t even use neutrinos.”

The Kamioka NDE-II observed a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy, designated SN 1987A for the year in which it was discovered, and recorded neutrinos traveling at one one-hundredmillionth the speed of light. This is important because this is much slower than what was observed at CERN, Waggoner said.

Waggoner said because neutrinos are so hard to detect and interact with, it’s hard for him to believe the measurements are accurate, especially when scientists cannot agree whether the mass of a neutrino is zero.

He said the implications for the study of physics, and the practical implications, are potentially negligible. “Neutrinos would span the galaxy in 100,000 years just like light would, minus six seconds,” he said.

Our galaxy, called the Milky Way, is 100,000 light-years in diameter, a light-year being the measurement of the distance light can travel in a year. CERN’s observation, if true, would mean that theoretically neutrinos could travel from one end of the galaxy to the other six seconds faster than light.

Waggoner said the applications of neutrinos for modern technology are nil, as even submarines, which repeatedly employ undetectable means of communication, are not close to being able to use neutrinos. “‘Star Trek’ doesn’t even use neutrinos,” Waggoner said.

O’Connor said he believes the observation, if correct, would not necessarily invalidate Einstein’s respected theory but would append it for specific circumstances physicists could define. He compared this to Sir Isaac Newton’s laws, specifically his laws of motion and universal gravitation, in relation to Einstein’s.

“Newton’s laws weren’t wrong when Einstein came along, he just took Newton’s laws a bit further,” O’Connor said.

Illustration by Juan Carlos Campos

6 • Oct. 24, 2011

The Ranger

News

Name change delays financial aid funds

By Alma Linda Manzanares Political science sophomore Maria “Ria” Helena Thompson had to change her name to receive financial aid.

Thompson filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, and an Apply Texas application at the same time before the financial aid June 1 priority deadline.

On the Apply Texas application, her name read “Maria Helena Thompson.” On the FAFSA application her name read “Maria H. Thompson” because there was only room for a middle initial.

All the information, including address, Social Security number and birthday matched on the two applications.

Martin Ortega, director of

enrollment services, said students same name,” Thompson said. indicate their names in different A financial aid clerk directed ways on different applications, Thompson to admissions and but if the names do not match records with a note to “change” exactly, then it creates a delay with her name from “Maria Helena the financial aid office’s ability to Thompson” to “Maria Helena award financial aid.

Thompson.”

“It happens more She said admissions times than I would like and records asked for to see,” Ortega said. her Social Security card On campus, or birth certificate; she Thompson learned provided her Social her FAFSA and Apply Security card and then Texas applications did the clerk said it was not not link, and a finanas official as a birth cercial aid adviser told tificate.

Maria “Ria” Helena Thompson her all verifications “We don’t accept a were done by hand.

Social Security card in “What bothers me about that is order to update a person’s name that means somebody saw ‘Maria because we don’t know what docuHelena Thompson’ and saw ‘Maria ments — and the Social Security H. Thompson’ and didn’t make the Administration has no obligation connection that those two are the to update us on what documents

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— they require for the name to appear on an individual’s Social Security card,” Ortega said. “That has been fluid throughout the years. It is not one of the documents we use for verification of a student’s legal name.”

He said to be able to change a name on records, a student needs either a court order change of name of an adult, a marriage license, a divorce decree indicating a change of name, or a birth certificate.

On legacy.alamo.edu/sac, to change a student name, the biographical data update form says a student must submit one of the following original or certified documents: court order, marriage license or divorce decree. The form is also available on the new site under the “Admissions and Records” tab by clicking “Forms.”

It includes the same information.

By that time, Thompson was fed up. “This is supposed to be an institute of higher learning, and you are not going to sit up here and convince me that you could not make the same connection between the same address, birthday, Social and Banner ID,” Thompson said to the clerk. “Change my name; stop giving me hassle so I can get my financial aid.”

Thompson said she could not register until after Aug. 4 because her classes would have been dropped without her financial aid settled.

She said financial aid personnel told her to wait and hope her aid arrived by Aug. 20.

For three days, she had stood in lines. A flag was placed on her account so she would not be dropped from her classes Aug. 20. She received her financial aid funds the first day of classes Aug. 22.

Thompson suggested that financial aid triage students in line instead of making them wait hours for 30 seconds at the window.

The Ranger

News

Oct. 24, 2011 • 7

Website memory leak unresolved Contractor up for 4 a.m. patching until the problem is fixed.

By J. Almendarez Thomas Cleary, vice chancellor for planning, performance and information systems, said Oct. 18 that Ektron, the contractor for the hardware and software services for the new unified district website, has not permanently repaired problems discovered within 24 hours of the launch.

Cleary said the company is instead creating patches to fix the memory leak every day at about 4 a.m.

A memory leak is similar to a leak in a pipe, he said, and it degrades the system’s performance. Patches free memory space within the software and refunnel it throughout the system.

Other than the memory leak, he said the site has been well received through informal feedback from faculty and students, and many have said it is “cleaner” and easier to navigate.

Roger Gutierrez, kinesiology and education to keep potential students and the community sophomore, however, said, “I think it’s a waste of in mind. “It’s not that those other things are not money. I’d rather have a nurse on campus rather important, they are,” he said. than pay for a new website.”

But, he said the move was made to make the The cost of the new website accumulates to website less cluttered. $217,830. Gutierrez is also a work-study student Reference Librarian Tom Kuykendall said in the English lab in Rooms 118 and 122 of people do not like change, but he predicts in Gonzalez Hall. a few weeks, they will feel more comfortable He said other students using the website. “I think have complained about it will work out fine.”

Call 210-485-0555 for the new website because Donnovan McFarland, assistance using the website information they were able math freshman and workor to report problems. to easily find on the forstudy student in the SLAC mer website is difficult to lab in Moody, said he access on the new one.“It’s just pretty wrapping thinks the new website looks cleaner, but he paper,” Gutierrez said. doesn’t use the district or college websites often.

Cleary said the new website is meant to be Cleary said the website is 90 percent done more student-centric. The former website had and can still be changed in minor ways to a lot of information available that was only rel- accommodate needs. evant to employees, and that information has To make comments or suggestions, email been moved to Sharepoint, a method of com- Mario Muñiz, district public relations direcmunication accessible only to employees. tor and Digital Communications Subcommittee He said the new website was also designed member, at mmuniz46@alamo.edu.

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8 • The Ranger

Monster musical performance Music faculty take the stage for an annual Halloween scholarship fundraiser.

By Robert Medina The music department at this college will present “Little Shop of Errors,” an employee recital and Halloween fundraiser at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts Center.

Featured performers include music faculty members Mary Boo Rustle, Madalyn Hatchet, Jeff “Head” Hunt, Ax Gignac, Malice Gomez, Becky Stalker, Peter Slime, Mark Gruesome-Son, Sin D. Ellis, Ronnie Batson and Omen Duggan, along with the vice president of academic affairs as Jess Sicka Howard.

Performers will dress in costumes for a variety of pop and classical music, including a spoof of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and songs from “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Tickets are $5 for students with college ID and $7 for adults, and children younger than 12 are free.

Tickets will be sold at the door the night of the performance or in the music department office 7 a.m.4 p.m. Monday through Thursday in Room 105 of McAllister Fine Arts Center. Proceeds will benefit music scholarships.

The audience is encouraged to show up in costume to contribute to

the Halloween atmosphere, and those who do will have a chance to win a jack-o-lantern piñata at the end of the show.

Professor Alice Gomez will present two scholarships for students who have shown outstanding performance abilities, participated in multiple department events and maintained a GPA of 4.0. “Attendance is particularly meaningful this year,” she said.

“Because of budget cuts, we don’t have scholarship funds anymore.”

Until last year, the district allocated $5,000 to the music department for scholarships ranging from $75 to $200.

For more information, call the fine arts department at 210-486-0255 or go to Room 105 of McAllister.

Mortuary science celebrates life at death

By Robert Medina The mortuary science department will celebrate All Saints Day Nov. 1 and Día de los Muertos on Nov. 2.

All Saints Day, which honors all saints, dates back to the fourth century. Día de los Muertos, or All Souls Day, is a day for remembering deceased family and friends.

The date of origin is unknown, but according to azcentral.com, the Olmec Indians 3,000 years ago observed it and carried it into Catholic rituals when the Spanish conquered Mexico.

Mortuary science Chair Felix Gonzales said sugar skulls will be provided free for students to decorate.

“We’re going to have them pre-formed so that students who want to participate can just come in and decorate them however they want.”

The skulls symbolize real skulls that were once kept as war trophies and brought out during rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.

In addition to decorating skulls, students can learn to make “papel picado,” colorful paper cutouts of intri-

cate designs and figures.

Students are invited to bring photos of loved ones or items they enjoyed in life to place on the altar in remembrance.

“We are asking people to bring remembrances,” Gonzales said, “If it’s a photograph of a loved one, that it be a photo copy, something that they won’t mind losing, should it get lost.

The altars that are set up will be left there for everybody to come by and hopefully enjoy.”

There also will be a fundraiser on both days in memory of former student Debbie Abby Garcia’s child, who died during a fire Aug. 16. Proceeds of 100 $5 lapel pins will be donated to Walk for Autism of San Antonio in memory of Raul Rodolfo “Rudy” Alejos. The walk is in April.

Share Life Texas representatives will be on campus with information on donating organs and tissue, and the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center will be conducting a blood drive.

“It’s Día De Los Muertos, but we’re going to try to make it día para los vivos,” Gonzales said. “Even though a lot of people associate us strictly with the dead, they aren’t really aware that some of your biggest supporters of things like organ donation are funeral directors because we see the value of life … and what we bury.”

“In providing the reverence for the dead and in providing service to the living, it helps us grow into better people,” Gonzales said.

For more information, call Dr. Francisco Solis at 210-486-1138.

Disc jockey Josh Prado remi

Becomin

By Joshua Fechter

Since his first appearance Comics #27 in May 1939, Batm vated audiences in the form o Saturday morning cartoons, vid Academy Award-winning moti Batman’s stories combin fighting ethos and detective w early 20th century pulp fictio an epic sense of good and evil right and wrong, as personified conflict with his arch nemesis Still, the ultimate question compels someone to dress like wait in line at midnight outs game store just to purchase th about someone else who dress Well, no one dressed up did line up at midnight Mo GameStop locations across n Antonio for the release of “Ba City,” developed by Rockst and distributed by Warner Br Entertainment.

Michael Segura, music fre college, said he attended the Alamo Quarry Market because invited him and because the with Batman.

Mariano Gomez, Segura’s pared the characters from Batm in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sh stories.

He said Batman and Sherlo

miere

Oct. 24, 2011 • 9

ixes Batman theme music on an iPad while people wait in line to buy “Batman: Arkham City” on Monday at Gamestop, 5366 Walzem. Jacob Beltran

ng the Bat: Some gamers rule the night

e in Detective man has captiof comic books, deo games and ion pictures. ne the crimework found in on novels with l, the nature of d by his eternal — the Joker. remains: What e a bat and then side of a video he latest game ses like a bat? p, but gamers onday at three northeast San atman: Arkham teady Studios ros. Interactive

eshman at this launch at the e three friends ey all grew up

s friend, comman with those herlock Holmes

ock Holmes are

moralistic detectives; the Joker and Holmes’ archnemesis, Professor James Moriarty, are amoral criminal masterminds.

He said Robin and Holmes’ assistant, Dr. James Watson, are the voices of reason who keep Batman and Holmes grounded.

Gomez said he attended the launch so he could have the game instantly and soon thereafter play it with his friends.

“It’s super cool friend time,” he said.

DJ Josh Prado blasted Danny Elfman’s score to 1989’s “Batman” from 500-watt speakers at the Walzem Plaza location.

“I freaking love Batman,” he said as he mixed in the pulsing string section from Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s score to 2005’s “Batman Begins.” “I’m a big kid; I haven’t grown up.”

Prado said there is a sense of community among those who attend midnight launches.

“You see a lot of the same guys,” he said.

Inside the store, gamers gathered around a television playing the 2010 animated film, “Batman: Under The Red Hood.”

Jermuel Floyd said he attended the launch at Walzem because Batman is his favorite superhero.

“He’s super smart and knows everyone’s weakness,” Floyd said. “He’s kind of like me.”

He said the big draw to the launch for him is that the game involves Catwoman, Batman’s love interest, occasional ally and enemy.

“I have the hots for powerful women in leather,” Floyd said.

Brandon Falsario, 18, said he attended the launch at Walzem because he had nothing better to do on a Monday night.

Vince Idrogo, store manager at 1432 Austin Highway, said midnight releases allow gamers to interact with one another and speak to staff who specialize in video games.

“We have the knowledge here,” Idrogo said. “We can talk about anything.”

Idrogo said midnight releases typically draw about 300 or 400 people to his store for games like “Call Of Duty” and “Battlefield,” but gamers did not turn out for this release.

At 11 p.m., four people showed up at the Walzem store.

Each location gave away T-shirts, posters and a card with a code to redeem three free songs from the “Batman: Arkham City” soundtrack.

The game takes place a year after the events of 2009’s “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” which sold more than 2.5 million copies.

Quincy Jones, former warden of Arkham Asylum, becomes mayor of Gotham City and closes the asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary, which housed dangerous criminals.

Instead, Jones buys a huge chunk of Gotham’s slums, names it Arkham City and houses criminals there, giving them free rein as long they do not leave.

Two-Face sets events in motion by planning a public execution of Catwoman, prompting Batman into action.

The game is available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will release the game on Microsoft Windows Nov. 8 and on Wii U in 2012.

Gamers did not only turn out for “Batman: Arkham City.”

Isaac Wolff, film freshman at Palo Alto College, said he attended the launch at the Quarry to pick up “Rocksmith,” a game similar to “Guitar Hero,” which also had a midnight release.

Wolff said he does not like ordering games online because he does not get the instant gratification of buying in person.

He said it also gives him the opportunity to interact with gamers in person instead of over Xbox Live, an online multiplayer gaming network.

He said when he buys the game, he will go home and play it for about three hours before catching a couple of hours of sleep to get him to class the next morning.

“I’m a hardcore gamer,” Wolff said.

10 • Oct. 24, 2011

The Ranger

News

Amendment can make student loans available

By Stefania Malacrida On Nov. 8, voters have the opportunity to amend the Texas Constitution, for the 468th time since 1878.

The amendment includes 10 propositions: Four of them would allow counties and state agencies to issue general obligation bonds to produce funding for a number of projects.

Among them, Proposition 3 allows the state to issue more bonds for low-interest loans for college students. The state already issues student-loan bonds on a regular basis through the HinsonHazelwood College Student Loan Program, also known as the College Access Loan.

Because the Constitution does not allow the state to obligate future capital unless the public agrees, an amendment is required whenever an agency asks for the renewal or expansion of bonds.

Since 1965, voters have authorized seven amendments to increase and update the HinsonHazelwood program, totaling $1.86 billion in issuable studentloan bonds.

The upcoming amendment would give the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ongoing authority to issue such bonds, avoiding costly further

amendments, as long as the He said the amendment unforprincipal amount of outstanding tunately does not compensate for bonds does not exceed the pre- any of the cuts that the state made viously authoin reducing rized amount of educational Early voting opens today and continues through Nov. $1.86 billion. funding.

4. For more information, visit “ Wh e n e ve r Te x a s http://elections.bexar.org. money is given financial-aid to education funding at programs, it is a good thing,” said this college accounts for less than Tomás Campos, director of stu- 1 percent of the overall financial dent financial services here. aid resources.

The amendment, however, “Still, any time financial aid does not affect students here. funds are cut, it is bad news,” “In our case, 99 percent of the Campos said. students who borrow low-interest As a result, about 150 students loans choose the Federal Direct eligible for the Early High School Loan Program,” he said.

Graduation Scholarship were Typically, applications for funded last year but will not be the Hinson-Hazelwood program renewed. At this college, the procome from students who attend gram grants fee assistance to lowcostly private universities and income high school graduates. who, on top of the Federal Direct State Rep. Mike Villarreal, Loan, also apply for the state pro- D-San Antonio, reported, “I will gram to cover college expenses. be voting for all the constitutional “At public schools like SAC, amendments on the ballot this the budget is much smaller, so year. For those of us focused on students do not have to borrow supporting Texas students and from multiple loan programs,” growing an educated workforce, Campos said.

Propositions 3 and 6 are particuNevertheless, community col- larly important.” lege students will be able to vote Proposition 6 is intended to on the amendment, and Campos provide additional funding for said they should vote based on public education. The amendtheir plans for four-year schools. ment would allow the General “I’d recommend to vote for the Land Office to distribute revenue amendment and to allow the state from the permanent fund to the to issue more bonds,” he said.

Available School Fund.

WE ARE

Amendments Prop. 1 allows surviving spouses of totally disabled veterans to have a tax exemption on the market value of their homestead residence.

Prop. 2 allows the Texas Water Development Board a permanent right to issue bonds up to $6 billion at any time.

Prop. 3 allows the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board a permanent right to issue bonds to finance low-interest student loans.

Prop. 4 gives counties the authority to issue bonds for the development of abandoned and underdeveloped areas.

Prop. 5 allows cities and counties to sign inter-local tax-free contracts.

Pro. 6 makes a share of the Permanent School Fund — managed by the General Land Office — accessible to public schools through the Available School Fund.

Prop. 7 allows El Paso County to issue bonds to develop parks and recreational facilities, as long as those projects are supported by property taxes.

Prop. 8 provides tax incentives to landowners who implement water conservation on open-space lands.

Prop. 9 allows a pardon by the governor for people who complete deferred adjudication.

Prop. 10 lengthens the period between county officials’ resignation and application for another office.

The University of Texas at San Antonio is your first choice for a top tier education. Transferring to UTSA is easy and scholarships are available.

Go to applytexas.org and apply now.

The final Admissions Application deadline for the 2012 Spring Semester is November 15.

Learn more at

utsa.edu/transfer

Transfer Scholarships available are the Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship and the Joint Admissions Agreement Scholarship. The deadline to submit either scholarship application for Spring 2012 is November 1.

We are Roadrunners and we are you.

The Ranger

News

Oct. 24, 2011 • 11

PE, lab science booted from core The board will vote on changes in December.

By Joshua Fechter If the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board votes to implement its recommendations regarding the core curriculum into policy Thursday, the district will no longer offer kinesiology courses as part of its core curriculum effective in fall 2012.

Dr. Jessica Howard, vice president of academic affairs, said the coordinating board removed the institutional option, which allowed institutions to select three hours of coursework it believed its students should take. She said the district used the option to offer two hours of kinesiology and a lab hour of science.

Instead, the coordinating board established a component area option, which requires institutions to select six hours of coursework that focuses on the development and application of knowledge and skills introduced in the main areas of coursework: communication; mathematics; life and physical sciences; language, philosophy and culture; creative arts; American history; government and political science; and social and behavioral sciences.

Howard said kinesiology does not align with the main areas of coursework but courses that do not involve physical activity such as KINE 1304, Personal and Community Health, and KINE 1338, Concepts of Fitness and Wellness, may align.

She said the coordinating board no longer allows institutions to mix disciplines within a three-hour block, so the district could not mix two hours of kinesiology with one lab hour of science.

She said the district decided to allow a speech course and additional humanities course under the component area option.

Kinesiology and dance Chair Bill Richardson said the department is disturbed and thinks the discipline should remain part of the core.

“It’s evident to someone the benefits accrued to students through kinesiology courses are not important,” Richardson said.

He said he does not know how it will affect the department until the changes are implemented, but he is concerned about the impact it will have on students.“They will not have the opportunity to develop an understanding of the importance of exercise,” Richardson said.

He said he believes most students enroll in kinesiology because they want to, not just as a requirement. “I think they take our courses because they enjoy them.”

Richardson said he is concerned about providing enough sections for full-time faculty and does not know what the fall schedule will look like. Adjuncts may lose some course assignments.

Howard said the department should do three things: create a degree plan for kinesiology, look at which nonactivity courses fit into component areas and advertise their services around campus.

Nursing freshman Amanda Talamantez Martinez said she would take kinesiology courses if they were not required.

“They relieve stress and they’re a great way to socialize,” she said.

Jill Hoepfner, history and dance sophomore, said kinesiology courses should remain part of the core because they relieve stress and help her focus in her other classes.

Justin Alvarado, radio-television-film freshman, said he did not know if he would take kinesiology courses if not required to.

Jerry O’Connor, physics, engineering, architecture and engineering technologies Chair, said he does not know how the removal of an hour of lab science will

Demetril Hebert, Northeast Lakeview student success specialist, said in the spirit of Halloween, the counselor’s office there has a clear message to students: “Don’t be late; graduate.” Alamo Colleges have different deadlines so students planning to graduate in December must go to admissions and records at their college. Joe Jacques, assistant director of admissions here, said Nov. 4 is the deadline at San Antonio College. See Employee Development Day story online. Rennie Murrell affect enrollment, but he believes the change downgrades the core curriculum, which was designed to produce well-rounded college graduates.

“The core exists because there are things every educated person should know,” he said. “Everyone should have some experience.”

O’Connor said because of the technological nature of the modern world, anyone who is not literate in math and science is at a disadvantage.

Natural sciences Chair Teanna Staggs said the decision to remove an hour of lab science is unfortunate because it deprives students who are not majoring in science of hands-on experience.

“It’s experience they should have,” she said.

Staggs said the department would alter its curriculum to include activities similar to lab activities in lecture courses for nonmajors.

She said those who made the

decision do not realize the impact they have, and she hopes the change is reversible.

Howard said the core will be reduced from 45 hours to 42 hours, which will require all A.A. and A.S. degree plans to be revamped.

She said degree plans will still be at least 60 hours, and the district prefers majors do not take more than 60 hours to complete. She said departments will decide how to fill the additional three hours left by changing the core.

Howard said if students started on one degree plan but the department switched to another, they have five years to complete the program under the plan they started.

Howard said the changes will go before the district board of trustees in December because the coordinating board must finalize its recommendations on Thursday, two days after the board of trustees’ regular meeting Tuesday. The board will not meet in November.

12 • Oct. 24, 2011

Editorial

The Ranger

Alexandra Nelipa

SGA defies open meetings, transparency For its past two meetings, Student Government Association met in executive session, a closed session open only to members.

In “SGA discusses treats, closed meeting with college president” Oct. 11, SGA President Jacob Wong said the association uses executive session to discuss issues that have not been researched fully and to prevent being misquoted.

What kind of message is that?

Instead of meeting in secret, SGA members should research issues beforehand and discuss them openly.

You won’t sound uninformed if you’re informed.

Elected officials must accept everything that goes with a leadership position. That includes the potential of being “misquoted,” or as we often find, discomfort in being quoted accurately.

Wong said SGA members use the session to address incidences when a member’s conduct is out of line.

Wong’s final response: SGA does not consist of members who are political science majors. What a lame excuse.

SGA officials should know if they’ve crossed the line and when they do, their peers should have the integrity to call them on it in public.

If SGA can’t hold members of its

own accountable in public, how can they expect to hold administrators or the district accountable? Furthermore, a student not majoring in political science is not excused from understanding how government works. That would explain, however, why SGA does not understand why executive session defies all notions of open government.

The Texas Open Meetings Act, https://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/ og_faqs.shtml#oma, click on Open Meetings Handbbok, says governmental bodies may convene a closed session if it is to: • seek legal advice from its attorney about pending or contemplated litigation, a settlement offer or an event in which the duty of the attorney conflicts with the body; • discuss the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property if discussion in an open meeting would harm that process; • discuss a negotiated contract for a prospective gift or donation to the body if discussion during an open meeting of it would harm negotiations with the party for said gift or donation; • discuss the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee or to hear a

complaint or charge against an officer or employee; • discuss the deployment, or specific occasions for implementation, of security personnel or devices or a security audit.

A final action, decision or vote on topics from closed meetings may only be made in an open meeting.

Nowhere does it say governmental bodies may meet in a closed session to discuss subjects for which they lack complete information.

In addition, SGA thinks it’s necessary to meet with administrators in closed meetings, such as Pepsi with the President, to discuss topics already discussed in open sessions, such as Pizza with the President. Not only is it a waste of time, but SGA defies openness in the process.

SGA, do the right thing: Conduct your business openly and honestly.

Hold yourselves to account and act like the public stewards you should be. And students, attend SGA meetings so if members cannot hold themselves accountable, you can do it for them.

SGA meets at noon the first three Mondays of every month in the faculty and staff lounge of Loftin Student Center.

The Ranger

Oct. 24, 2011 • 13

Editorial

Twitter, Facebook trump OrgSync The office of student life spent $6,000-$7,000 of student activity fee money to purchase an account with OrgSync, a social media site used to provide information to students about campus events and clubs.

Mark Bigelow, assistant coordinator of student leadership and activities, boasts that the site is similar to Facebook.

If that is the case, why didn’t the office of student life use Facebook, a free service?

OrgSync does not appear to increase security for the office. An email address and name are all that is needed to register for an account with this college.

The office of student life also seems to use its Facebook account to send

students reminders and alerts more often than its OrgSync account.

For example, the office made 45 Facebook status updates between Oct. 6 and Oct. 13.

As of Oct. 17, their most recent addition to the OrgSync newsfeed was dated Sept. 22.

This is not the first time the department has blatantly wasted student activity fee money on pointless software. The office paid $12,000 for the inventory program Red Rover in 2008.

Red Rover gathers student interests and uses the information to plan campus events.

On Oct. 11, Bigelow said the office will discontinue the use of Red Rover.

From the looks of it, student life will eventually phase out use of OrgSync

as well.

Most students already have Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Why waste thousands of dollars for sites emulating free social media sites?

The combined cost of these systems amounts to more money than is allotted for the college health center, which is budgeted $10,000 per fiscal year and was forced to close its services beginning in August.

Why force students to register for yet another account online and waste their money? Why not provide something useful that is not redundant?

It is unconscionable for administrators to allow the one office on campus without budgetary concerns to treat students’ money so flippantly.

District website slims down

Get tested for HIV

The new district website was expected to roll out Oct. 9 but had some technical errors that delayed access until Oct. 10 and even then, the website is woefully lacking.

The technical issue was linked to the vendor, Ektron, to which the district paid $171,750 for application software.

The C2 Group, the vendor who designed the website, met with students, faculty and administrators in July 2010 to gather input on users’ likes and dislikes about the old website. The district paid The C2 Group $46,080 to design the new website.

The new website is meant to streamline information for students and to allow departments within the colleges to update their portion of the website without depending on a district webmaster.

The former district web-

Out of 25,457 students enrolled at this college, only about 30 took advantage of free HIV testing Tuesday and Wednesday in Loftin Student Center.

We hope that means the other 25,427 students have been tested previously or elsewhere.

Or it could mean they have not been tested, did not take advantage of free testing here and may be infected with HIV, which they could spread to others without their knowledge.

Free testing is readily available, and not knowing, especially for those who are sexually active, is inexcusable.

Those who are sexually active have the responsibility to their partners to protect each other from and be tested regularly for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

That means always

site is still available for students until the end of the semester at http://legacy. alamo.edu/, though some material has been removed or links no longer work.

While the district had student perspectives in mind in designing the website, it is missing vital information.

Faculty pages are no longer accessible, meaning syllabuses, office numbers and hours for a certain faculty member cannot be found.

While students can still access this information online, through esyllabus, this information should still be readily available in multiple locations because faculty are no longer allowed to print copies of course syllabuses for students.

Not every student has access to a computer at home.

For spending so much effort and money on a new look, we expect more value, not less.

using a condom or dental dam. Condoms are also available for free.

The longer HIV goes undiagnosed, the less time there is for antibiotics known as inhibitors to slow the progression to AIDS. Symptoms associated with HIV, such as dry mouth, weight loss and diarrhea lasting more than a week, can be confused with many other diseases and conditions, so it’s important to determine your HIV status.

Stay informed with free testing at the AIDS Foundation at 818 E. Grayson St. or the Center for Health Care Services at 3031 Interstate Highway 10 West.

Ask your partners to get tested regularly, especially if there’s a chance they could be HIV-positive.

Don’t be afraid to get tested; it could save lives.

14 • Oct. 24, 2011

Opinion

The Ranger

Taxi driver reflects on loss Last semester, I followed a family tradition and became a licensed contractor with Jennifer M. Ytuarte Greater San Antonio Transportation Co., widely known as Yellow Cab. My mother was a taxi driver; my aunt drives for Yellow.

For eight years, my mom drove down streets of San Antonio and networked to build regular customers we call “personals.”

Every day, up by 3 a.m., in bed by 10 p.m., six days a week, 12 months a year.

She made a modest income

and was excited when I told her I started driving. I’m sure she was less than pleased when I explained my logic.

I’m still going to school, but I needed a routine, so I’ll work overnight and sleep mid-day after my morning classes.

There are more than 500 vehicles in the fleet, with about 310 drivers. After 10 p.m., I became one of 35.

At the time, I think I was one of maybe two or three women who worked overnight. My previous job was overnight in a 24-hour copy center. I was used to working alone.

As a new driver, the veterans knew me as “the girl with pens in her hair.”

We waited together. We stalked bars and clubs downtown, waited

for the rush of drunks at 2 a.m. and had bidding wars for calls in unoccupied zones.

Such a small group of people gets to know each other over time.

I met John Dexter in February, three months into driving a taxi, during my first “code,” a taxi driver’s distress signal.

A simple four-digit code, typed into the same keypad we use to charge fares to credit cards, sends an emergency alert to all on-duty drivers. Those within 3 miles answer the page and help the driver safely regain control of any situation.

That night, I was an hour away from quitting time so I could study for a geology exam when I coded a fight between two drunken tourists. It was close to 5 a.m. and I had just left a West Side bar with my fare.

As I headed to their motel near downtown, they started arguing about who was paying my fare and how much they had already spent on that evening’s bar hopping.

Words turned into slurred cursing, which morphed into shoves, then yelling and fists striking flesh.

Even though the passengers weren’t focused on me, they were really getting into it. I sent the signal and grabbed a small can of mace from my jeans’ front pocket.

During orientation, my trainer told me, “We respond faster than the police.” Sure enough, within seconds, three drivers were by my side.

John was the first to respond.

With crow bar in hand, he distracted my drunken fares while two other drivers pulled them out of my van. They were tall, aggressive, heavier-than-average men who kept swinging fists while being pushed to the ground.

It is still the most memorable display of bravery I’ve ever witnessed first hand.

The brawl was diffused in a

matter of minutes, and all that was left for the police was to ticket the passengers, who rode in separate taxis home.

I felt like family, and my rescuers were my brothers.

Still, I took the next week off and lasted only a month after that.

Then, early morning on Oct. 10, John Dexter was on the North Side when he was shot in the head and robbed of $19, most likely seed money to start the day.

Now, as I look at photos taken that morning of the crime scene, I see his van with yellow police tape and a cloth covering the van so passersby can’t see the body inside.

I do not see a sea of Yellow. No code. No family to back him up.

I assume this means that without warning, or even reason to doubt the nature of his passenger, John Dexter died.

There will be no close-call, “so there I was … ” stories to heroically narrate later over breakfast tacos.

The guy I never thanked for showing up for my first emergency code didn’t get a chance to sound his own.

I remember waiting in line with him at the J.W. Marriot for the “mother load” of potential passengers who never came.

He showed me it was easier to work early mornings and get customers headed to work versus cleaning up vomit from late night drunkards.

John kept everything in perspective, and that wisdom remains with me.

Everyone is trying to make a living, and everyone of us knew the risk of such close contact with strangers.

I’m still licensed, but I won’t return to cab driving. It’s too intimate and too easy to be drawn into strangers’ quarrels.

I have two young children, and I won’t risk leaving them motherless.

The Ranger

Trustees District 1: Joe Alderete Jr. 1602 Hillcrest Drive San Antonio TX 78228 Cell: 210-863-9500 Home: 210-434-6967 E-mail: jvajr711@aol.com, jalderete21@alamo.edu District 2: Denver McClendon 3811 Willowwood Blvd.

San Antonio, TX 78219 Work: 210-281-9141 E-mail: denvermcclendon@satx.rr.com, dmcclendon2@alamo.edu District 3: Anna U. Bustamante 511 Ware Blvd., San Antonio TX 78221 Work: 210-882-1606 Home: 210-921-2986 E-mail: abustamante20@alamo.edu District 4: Marcelo S. Casillas 115 Wainwright, San Antonio TX 78211 No telephone number provided Board of trustees liaison: 210-485-0030 E-mail: mcasillas19@alamo.edu District 5: Roberto Zárate 4103 Buffalo Bayou, San Antonio TX 78251 No telephone number provided E-mail: rzarate11@alamo.edu District 6: Dr. Gene Sprague 14722 Iron Horse Way Helotes TX 78023 Work: 210-567-4865 E-mail: sprague1@alamo.edu District 7: Blakely Latham Fernandez 3707 N. St. Mary Street San Antonio TX 78212 Work: 210-538-9935 E-mail: bfernandez35@alamo.edu, bfernandez@tuggeyllp.com District 8: Gary Beitzel 15403 Forest Mist, San Antonio TX 78232 Home: 210-496-5857 E-mail: gbeitzel@alamo.edu District 9: James A. Rindfuss 13315 Thessaly, Universal City, TX 78148 Home: 210-828-4630 Work: 210-375-2555 E-mail: jrindfuss@alamo.edu

Administrators Chancellor: Dr. Bruce H. Leslie 201 W. Sheridan, Bldg. B, San Antonio TX 78204-1429 Work: 210-485-0020 Fax: 210-486-9166 E-mail: bleslie@alamo.edu San Antonio College, Dr. Robert E. Zeigler 210-486-0959, rzeigler@alamo.edu Northeast Lakeview College, Dr. Eric Reno 210-486-5484, ereno@alamo.edu Northwest Vista College, Dr. Jacqueline Claunch 210-486-4900, jclaunch@alamo.edu Palo Alto College, Dr. Ana M. “Cha” Guzman 210-486-3960, aguzman@alamo.edu St. Philip’s College, Dr. Adena W. Loston 210-486-2900, aloston@alamo.edu

Oct. 24, 2011 • 15

Web Editor Jacob Beltran

Guest Viewpoints: Faculty, staff, students and community members are welcome to contribute guest viewpoints of up to 450 words.

Writers should focus on campus or current events in a critical, persuasive or interpretative style.

All viewpoints must be published with a photo portrait of the writer.

Letters Policy: The Ranger invites readers to share views by writing letters to the editor. Space limitations force the paper to limit letters to two double-spaced, typewritten pages. Letters will be edited for spelling, style, grammar, libel and length. Editors reserve the right to deny publication of any letter.

Letters should be mailed to The Ranger, Department of Media Communications, San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Ave., San Antonio TX 78212-4299.

Letters also may be brought to the newspaper office in Room 212 of Loftin Student Center, emailed to sac-ranger@alamo. edu or faxed to 210-486-9292.

Letters must be signed and must include the printed name and telephone number. Students should include classification, major, campus and Banner ID. Employees should include title and telephone number.

For more information, call 210-486-1773.

©2011 by The Ranger staff, San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Ave., San Antonio, TX 78212-4299. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.

The Ranger news outlets, which serve the Alamo Community College District, are laboratory projects of journalism classes in the Department of Media Communications at San Antonio College. The Ranger is published Mondays except during summer, holidays and examinations.

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News contributions accepted by telephone (210-486-1773), by fax (210-486-9292), by email (sac-ranger@alamo.edu) or at the editorial office (Room 212 of Loftin Student Center).

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Those who violate the singlecopy rule may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution and subject to college discipline.

The Ranger Editor J. Almendarez

News Editor Joshua Fechter Calendar/Opinion Editor Alma Linda Manzanares Photo Editor Ingrid Wilgen Photo Team Julianna Anaya, Rachael L. Emond, Casandra Gonzales, Celeste Kulla, Ivie Okungbowa, Valerie Marie Salazar, Katie Sheridan, Alex Solis, Riley Stephens Illustrators Juan Carlos Campos, Alexandra Nelipa, Fred Nockroes Staff Writers Brian Burdick, Sebastian Carter, Jennifer Coronado, Marc Cunningham, Faith Duarte, David Espinoza, Jennifer Flores, Sara Garza, Kirk Hanes, Stefania Malacrida, Hilary Martinez, Robert Medina, Diana Palomo Multimedia Editor Jennifer M. Ytuarte Production Manager Melody Mendoza

16 • Oct. 24, 2011

News

The Ranger

Abuse signs Recognizing the warning signs of domestic violence is the first step to ending it.

Answer these questions to rate your risk: • Does your partner control who you talk to?

• Does your partner check your mileage?

• Does your partner check your phone?

• Does your partner check your email?

• Are you cut off from family?

• Are you cut off from friends?

• Do you make excuses for bruises?

• Do you wear clothes to hide bruises?

• Do you call in sick because of bruises?

• Does your partner call you names?

• Does your partner threaten to hurt you?

• Is your partner extremely jealous?

• Does your partner hurt you?

• Does your partner force you to have sex?

• Does your partner hit you?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may be in an abusive relationship.

Source: Family Violence Prevention Services, Inc.

What to do • Don’t ignore the problem.

• Tell someone — family, a friend or neighbor.

• Call a crisis hotline — 210733-8810.

• Plan for the future.

• Save money.

• Set aside important documents.

• Learn to think independently.

• If you are hurt, call the police or sheriff at 911 or 210-207-7273.

• Leave and have someone stay with you.

•Get medical attention.

•Seek counseling.

Source: SAPD Victims Services

Criminal justice sophomore Anna Maya, president of the Non-Traditional Student Club, leads a march Tuesday from the empowerment center to Loftin where club members hung T-shirts designed by students Monday in the mall. Casandra Gonzales

Club hangs out domestic violence stories Clothesline Project brings voice to silent victims.

By Alma Linda Manzanares “Take a stand,” “Break the cycle” and “Love does not hurt” are among the encouraging words written on white T-shirts that hung two days from the second floor of Loftin Student Center.

The Non-Traditional Student Club participated in the Clothesline Project Tuesday to promote domestic violence awareness.

The Clothesline Project was developed in 1990 by a coalition of women’s groups in Cape Cod, Mass., to develop a program that would educate, break the silence and bear witness to violence against women.

Six students walked from the empowerment center at Evergreen and Lewis streets to the second floor of Loftin with a clothesline holding 33 shirts. The club provided shirts for students to create their message Oct. 17 in the mall.

Ana Marchand, forensic science sophomore and president of the club, said she believes the overall goal of breaking the domestic violence cycle was achieved.

“If you don’t admit and are not willing to make a change in your life to break the cycle, then nobody else

is going to help you,” she said.

She said by creating the shirts, the club stood as the voice for women who were not able to talk and for those who died.

Marchand said she organized the project on campus because she was in a violent relationship for seven years. “I lost everything – my house, and my marriage,” she said.

“I lost so much, but at the same time I gained so much because I gained the opportunity to start a new life.”

She said she recognizes it’s not easy to end a relationship, but women need to remember that in the end, getting help will be worth it.

Alison Bryant, biology and prenursing sophomore, said the march was personal because she was in an abusive relationship for six years.

Her shirt read, “Domestic violence can begin with emotional and verbal abuse.”

Bryant said she dealt with abuse because it became comfortable, but she found her way out when she met somebody who supported her when she was ready to move out.

“I feel lucky that I was able to get out within the first sign of physical abuse,” she said. “I could’ve easily ended up dead in that relationship.”

Bryant said other women who experience the first warning signs of physical abuse need to get out of

that relationship.

For women who cannot seem to find their way out, Bryant said they need to let someone know; support can build enough strength to leave.

“So many women just keep quiet, keep silent,” Bryant said.

Yvonne Palacios, social work freshman and club member, said she was in an abusive marriage for nine years. She was not able to make a shirt, but she said if she did, it would have encouraged women to be strong and talk to someone who can help them get out safely.

“I’ve learned to be strong and to do things for myself, be independent, and rely only on me,” Palacios said, adding she lost someone close to her because of that relationship.

Palacios said for the past year, she has attended counseling sessions at the Rape Crisis Center, 7500 W. U.S. Highway 90. “They’ve helped me so much, and the women’s empowerment center has helped me also,” Palacios said. “I’m a different person now. I know I can succeed.”

Palacios said women need only themselves and need to help themselves by getting out of the relationship no matter how bad it is because there’s always someone who can help them.

“You can talk to anybody,” she said. “It’s never too late.”