The Renegade Rip Bakersfield College
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Vol. 82 ∙ No. 11
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
New CSU transfer bill brings hope and questions By Breanna Gray Reporter
Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1440, which simplifies the transfer process from California Community Colleges into California State Universities, into law on Sept. 29. Starting in the fall of 2011, students who earn a 2.0 GPA or higher with 60 transferable units, and 18 of those units in a major
or area of interest, are guaranteed admission as a junior into their local CSU. For many current community college students, the requirements for transferring are confusing and they end up taking more units than necessary. With this bill in place, students will not have to repeat coursework at the upper division level. Amber Chiang, Bakersfield College Marketing and Public Relations director, said that the
state government has told CCC’s and CSU’s that they must have the system in place by fall 2011. “That’s actually pretty quick, typically curriculum development and matriculation is a time consuming process. There are already teams in place moving forward with this at the state level and then it’s going to be directed down to us,” Chiang said. This fast time frame will not benefit students who are graduating in the spring, but should
make transferring easier for incoming students as well as current freshmen. Rachel Sanders, a college freshman, decided to take online classes through Brigham-Young University rather than going to a community college because of the restraints associated with transferring into four-year universities. “The school that I wanted to transfer into next year doesn’t accept transfers anymore be-
cause of the economy and many of the state schools are cutting back on how many transfers they are allowing,” Sanders said. According to Chiang, such problems will be solved through the new agreement. Chiang said, “Previously we did have a 60-unit transfer that worked for the CSU’s, some UC’s and some private schools, but as enrollments got so crazy it kind of just went away. Because those schools were so impacted
they weren’t taking our students so now we are basically putting that back into place. “The reality is that the classes aren’t really going to change. What is going to change is the agreement between the two schools and what it takes to transfer over there.” Details of how the system is going to change and what schools are considered as local have yet to be seen this early in See TRANSFER, Page 4
Business conference hosts popular speaker line-up By Brian N. Willhite Editor in Chief
The Bakersfield Business Conference, hosted by Borton Petrini, roared into town for the 25th anniversary of the local event extravaganza Oct. 9. The big-tent event featured some of the most well-known platform speakers in politics, such as Sarah Palin, former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and former Vice President Dick Cheney. The conference also featured motivational speakers such as Joe Clark and Medal of Honor recipient Peter Lemon. Entertainment acts such as Rich Little and political satire comedy group The Capital Steps provided the light-hearted entertainment to the audience of over 10,000. Taking place on California State University, Bakersfield’s soccer fields, every attendee in the audience cheered as they stood, waving the American flags they held for each speaker that took the stage at the big-tent event. After a five-year absence, the conference returned to bring back the tradition founded in 1985 by the event’s master of ceremonies, George Martin. Bringing together high-level speakers for an event this large is not an easy task, according to Brandon Martin, media coordinator and son of George Martin. In addition to booking speakers a year and a half in advance, the elder Martin, who books the guests, must determine if the speaker will still be relevant once the event comes to pass. Martin commented on how the
Photos by Gregory D. Cook / The Rip
Above: The grounds of the Bakersfield Business Conference were decorated with 2,880 flags commemorating the lives lost in the Sept. 11 attacks. Left: Former Vice President Richard Cheney and wife Lynne share a moment of personal reflection on stage at the Bakersfield Business Conference on the Cal. State Bakersfield campus Oct. 9.
For extended coverage of the
Bakersfield Business Conference See pages 6 and 7
Bakersfield Business Conference has firm criteria that must be met when they look for speakers to book. “Just because somebody’s a big name, or a celebrity, does not mean they get to grace the stage of the Bakersfield Business Conference. Our attendees are much more demanding than that,” said Martin. “Not all of our speakers are political in nature; we like
to get the audience feeling good about themselves, laughing and enjoying themselves.” The event also looks to find a variety of speakers to include in the line-up, regardless of their background, to give guests the best experience possible at the conference, according to Martin. “We want the best speakers we can find, and we’ve been lucky that that’s turned out frequently
Fine Arts classrooms struck by burglary and vandalism By Gregory D. Cook Online editor
Students and instructors in the Fine Arts building arrived on campus on the morning of Oct. 11 to discover that at least two rooms had been burglarized over the weekend, and some equipment had been stolen. According to Sgt. Christopher Counts, of the Bakersfield College Department of Public Safety, the burglaries occurred sometime between late Friday night, Oct. 8 and early Monday morning, Oct. 11. Counts expressed that Public Safety and the Bakersfield Police Department are looking into the incident, but declined to comment on an ongoing investigation. FA 47, a room that is used for communication classes, was broken into, and a 55-inch LCD television was taken, and an LCD projector was
taken out of FA 65, a music room. The vending machines outside of the Fine Arts building were also vandalized over the weekend, but Counts refused to speculate if the two incidents were related. School officials would not publicly release certain information, but the value of the missing equipment was estimated at more than $3,700. A. Todd Jones, chair of the Communication Department, expressed concern over how the missing equipment will affect the classes being taught in those rooms. “The students need that equipment for their communication presentations,” he said. “Right now, we are working on getting something temporary in there.” He added that he was unsure of where the department will find the funding to permanently replace the equipment.
to include both women and minorities. Probably the most popular speaker in the history of our event, in terms of attendee feedback and evaluation forms, was a woman, Margaret Thatcher,” said Martin. “Ultimately, nobody is saying we have to have a certain ratio of this ‘type’ of person, we look at them as individuals. This year, as in years in the past, minorities
have performed well as public speakers. We brought back Joe Clark on different occasions, not because he’s African-American, but because he’s frankly just one of the best platform speakers in the nation. There’s no doubt about it, he definitely earns his place on our stage.” One of the attractions special to the event were the 2,880 flags that were posted into the ground by members of local high school ROTC programs and wounded veterans as a memorial for each individual that died during the attacks on 9/11. Martin discussed the importance of the dedication and what
the organization hopes attendees will take away from the memorial. “There’s 2,880 flags for each person who died on 9/11, and the idea is you should be able to go to the top of the 110-foot Ferris wheel, look down, and get a real visual representation of all the lives that were lost on that day and start to understand, maybe for the first time because 2,880 is a big abstract number, and look at what it really meant in terms of our country’s loss that day,” said Martin. From humble beginnings in the 1980s, to the nationally See CONFERENCE, Page 6
Women’s soccer sets demanding game pace Pamela Mier (left) of L.A. Mission College and freshmen Kelsey Andrew (right) of Bakersfield College fight for the ball at the BC soccer field Oct. 5. BC, which is 5-5-2 overall and 3-2-1 in Western State Conference South, won their conference match 9-0. See page 10 for BC soccer story. annie stockman / The Rip