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Volume 90 Issue 13 • Feb. 25, 2013
210-486-1773 • Single copies free
Student charges civil rights violation
Heads up Students vote no guns on campus Pizza with the President will be noon-1:30 p.m. March 6 in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center, Student Government Association announced Feb. 14 during Pepsi with the President. The monthly meeting allows SGA members to bring student concerns to President Robert Zeigler. Pizza with the President is an opportunity to ask questions about the college and grab a slice of pizza. The event is open to faculty, students and staff. At Pepsi with the President, SGA presented results of a survey that shows students of this college do not want a law passed allowing guns on campus, Vice President Mike Martinez said. On Feb. 13, 162 students completed surveys for student government during a Sweet Treats event. See more survey results at The Ranger Online. For more information, call SGA 210-486-0133.
Carlos Ferrand
SAIYM provides help for local immigrants The group formerly known as SUDA, Students United for the DREAM Act, have regrouped as one of two local chapters of the San Antonio Immigrant Youth Movement. Group leaders felt SUDA was too focused on the DREAM Act and wanted to address other needs in the community. The new organization focuses on helping change the direction of immigrant youths through empowerment, education and networking. Kimberly Rendon, president of the chapter at this college, said, “We try to incorporate families and face issues for the parents and not just the students. It’s not easy what they go through.” She said the toughest roadblock is trying to get students involved. Raphael De La Garza, vice president of this chapter, said, “Our purpose is to inform people. Part of our struggle is trying to explain to people how anti-immigrant legislation affects everybody in the working class, not just immigrants.” SAIYM works with the Texas DREAM Alliance to oppose antiimmigrant legislation moving through the Texas Legislature. Weekly meetings are at 2:30 p.m. every Monday in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center. For more information, go to saiym210.org, email SAIYM210@ gmail.com or call 210-593-8202.
Benjamin Enriquez
/readtheranger
Female couple’s amorous behavior prompts police intervention. By Jennifer Luna
jluna217@student.alamo.edu
Hill Harper, who portrays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on “CSI:NY,” illustrates a common scene in which his character offers his opinion on cause of death. He said Tuesday at McAllister auditorium that he still gets frightened when the actors portraying dead victims get up and walk away. Stephanie Dix
Rackspace partners with ACCD for a $2.5 million job-training grant Grant will train 1,000 new workers and current employees. By Ingrid Wilgen
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
Alamo Colleges and Rackspace formed a partnership to train 1,000 new Texas workers and current Rackspace employees through a $2.5 million job-training grant from the Skills Development Fund administered by the Texas Workforce Commission. Rackspace is an information technology hosting company based in San Antonio and located in a portion of the former Windsor Park Mall. Among other services, it provides cloud hosting, in which customers purchase computer services that have been delegated over the Internet. Christina Weaver, Rackspace public relations specialist, said a stipulation in the grant required the hiring of 1,000 new Texas employees within 24 months. Kay Hendricks, coordinator of communication, said workers trained by the program include software developers, Linux administrators and technicians. She said the grant provides training for technologies that support the Rackspace open cloud platform. Weaver said only Rackspace workers can take advantage of the training. She said job openings range from the lowest to the highest skill level.
Potential “Rackers” should visit rackertalent.com to get a feel for how it is to work at Rackspace, Weaver said. She said the training is scheduled for Alamo Colleges and Rackspace. Training Grant partnerships are formed when a business sees a training need and partners with a technical or community college to help meet the need. The partners work together to create a viable training program and then submit their proposal to the Texas Workforce Commission, the administrators of the state’s Skills Development Fund. The fund, started in 1996, is a part of the state’s economic development strategy to create new jobs and meet the industry demand for skilled workers. In the 2011 legislative session, the state funded the fund with $48.5 million in the 2012-2013 biennium budget. To see what jobs are available, visit rackertalent.com and click on careers. Because new jobs filled through the grant funding requires that new hires are Texas residents, Lisa Givens, director of communications of the TWC communications department, recommends that those applying for positions should make sure they are registered on workintexas.com, the TWC job search website. She said residency will be based on unemployment insurance taxes.
A student complained to the Alamo Colleges police department that an officer discriminated against a same-sex couple Feb. 18 in Loftin Student Center. Music business sophomore James “Tank” Lowe Sr. wrote in his complaint that about 5 p.m., he observed a female student dressed in blue scrubs and dark pink jacket express her dislike at the sight of the two female students engaged in kissing, calling it “disgusting.” Lowe’s letter stated a “student spoke to a police officer who was also in the kitchen at the time and to the cashier in the cafeteria. While she was in the line, this student also characterized the women’s behavior as ‘just wrong.’” No one could identify the complainant who approached the police officer in the cafeteria, but cafeteria workers said she had called the police to Loftin. The officer approached the couple. One student sat on the other’s lap, facing her and wrapping her legs around her. Lowe’s complaint stated the police officer told them to stop their public display of affection because “other people were getting offended,” and the couple was being “inappropriate and disruptive.” He also wrote the officer said the couple was portraying “indecency” and directed the women to sit in separate chairs. According to district Policy F.4.2.1, disruptive behavior is defined as “any behavior that unreasonably interferes with or adversely affects the learning environment.” Inappropriate behavior is defined as, “offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behavior or communication in any form, makes the recipient feel upset, threatened, humiliated or
See CIVIL, Page 8
Adjunct Faculty Council chair receives stipend chancellor revoked Adjunct professor pushes for local budget control. By Rebecca Salinas
rsalinas191@student.alamo.edu
In exchange for a three-hour class that paid $4,100, journalism Adjunct Jerry Townsend, who serves as chair of Adjunct Faculty Council, agreed to accept a stipend of $2,500 to support his council organizing activities. Last spring, Townsend said President Robert Zeigler and Dr. Jessica Howard, former vice president of academic affairs, agreed to the arrangement. Townsend said he wanted to do more with Adjunct
Faculty Council, but he could not while teaching five classes in the fall. Thirty-five program coordinators were also promised stipends, but only Townsend and a few did not receive one, Zeigler said. Chancellor Bruce Leslie rejected Townsend’s stipend, but Zeigler said a “glitch” prevented the program coordinators from receiving checks. Zeigler notified Townsend that Leslie denied his stipend in December. In an email from Leslie to Townsend two weeks ago, Leslie said the multimillion dollar budget reduction for the district is making the district evaluate stipends.
Townsend said the American Association of University Professors sent an email to trustees Feb. 17, informing them of the situation. Program coordinators and Townsend were notified Tuesday that they still will be paid a stipend. Townsend, who had planned to address a complaint about the decision to the Alamo Colleges board of trustees at Tuesday’s regular board meeting, said Zeigler called him Tuesday morning to tell him Leslie changed his mind Monday night. Townsend decided not to address the board after he received word that he would receive the stipend.
After Tuesday’s board meeting, Leslie said he rejected the stipend because the district is trying to exercise better management of the college’s finances. Leslie said although he eventually approved the stipend for the fall semester, no new deals will be made. Townsend said all decision-making goes to Leslie, but he wants college presidents to decide what to do with their respective college budgets. “It should be someone involved … It should be someone who has good morale, makes timely decisions and is close to the facts and information,” he said. “That is the president’s job.”