Fall 2013 - Issue 2

A N AT I O N A L PA C E M A K E R AWA R D N E W S PA P E R

Volume 57, Issue 2

theswcsun.com

SWC earns praise from ACCJC College plan to prevent future corruption okayed

September 14 - October 18, 2013

Back in court

Some of the 262 criminal counts against Southwestern administrators dismissed by San Diego County District Attorney

please see Accreditation pg. A2

Students give Higher One good reviews

By Georgina Carriola Staff Writer

N

ew semesters in the past created a serpentine line of students all the way around the financial

aid center.

No more.

To reduce waiting time, worries and expenses, Southwestern College has adopted a financial aid disbursement service through Higher One banking services. Early reviews are favorable.

Higher One offers aid disbursements for students including direct deposit into an existing bank account, a check mailed to the recipient’s address or a payment into a Higher One SWC debit card. Cards are automatically sent to students’ homes, along with a brochure detailing other dispersal choices.

SWC students Omar Reyes and Berlin Lopez said they use the card because of the instant transfer of funds, whereas a mailed check would take about a week to be delivered. Reyes said Higher One came through.

“They made a promise that the refund was going to be given on the first day,” he said.

“Not only is the refund deposited to the Higher One account the same day it is available, it also allows full access to the money please see Higher One pg. A3

SWC plans parting of ways with San Diego County Office of Ed.

By Jaime Pronoble News Editor

By Jaime Pronoble and Pablo O. Cervantes Staff Writers

With the recent indictment of current and former college officials in the South Bay Corruption Scandal, t h e Ac c re d i t i n g C o m m i s s i o n o f Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) required Southwestern College to submit a 15-page “Special Report” on April 15.

ACCJC’s president gave SWC a thumbs up.

“A s a re s u l t o f t h e r e v i e w, t h e college developed NISH recommendations and action plans to ensure institutional integrity in all business practices,” wrote ACCJC President Barbara Beno. “All seven recommendations have been implemented, and 18 of 20 action plans have been completed. The commission commends the college for its work to improve institutional

College will take over its payroll

Marshall Murphy/staff

EXTORTION CHARGES DROPPED — John Wilson and Yolando Salcido exit the South County Superior Courthouse after the District Attorney dropped 22 charges on the 15 South Bay Corruption Case defendants. Some 240 charges remain.

By Lina Chankar Staff Writer

D

efendants in the ongoing South Bay Corruption case had 22 charges dropped by the San Diego County District Attorney, but still face 240 criminal counts that the DA plans to prosecute. Most of the dropped charges were accusations of extortion brought forward by the San Diego County Grand Jury.

Seven of the 15 defendants in the payfor-play case have Southwestern College connections. The others are current and former Sweetwater Union High School District officials or agents of construction firms.

Three defendants appeared at the South Bay Courthouse for the two-day hearing, including former SWC trustee Yolanda Salcido and former administrator John

Wilson.

A grand jury indictment originally contained a total of 262 charges. After dismissal of extortion charges the defendants now face a total of 240 charges, most of which are felonies.

Deputy District Attorney Leon Schorr said he understood the reasoning of the grand jury to indict on extortion, but he said he does not believe extortion to be consistent with the case.

“After review of the law, review of facts, as well as review of motions made by defense counsel, we made the decision in the interest of justice, not just for Ms. (Arlie) Ricasa, but on all extortion counts, to go ahead and dismiss,” Schorr said.

He made it clear the DA would prosecute the remaining charges.

Ricasa, SWC director of EOPS, was granted dismissal of only two counts. She is now facing a total of 31 counts.

Judge Ana España also granted dismissal of four charges against former SWC trustee Jorge Dominguez, including conspiracy to commit a crime, filing false instrument, perjury by declaration and gifts in excess of legal amount.

Schorr said former SWC Superintendent Raj Chopra still faces multiple felony counts related to false information on Form 700, required by public officials to report gifts and other outside income. Most of the South Bay Corruption Case defendants did not report gifts on the form, Schorr said.

Several charges against Salcido were also dismissed, including filing a false instrument, perjury by declaration, gifts in excess of legal amount and perjury.

Former SWC Interim President Greg Sandoval was granted dismissal of two out of 33 counts.

Sandoval’s attorney, Ricardo Gonzales, told the judge that it is common practice please see Court pg. A3

A decision by college officials t o t a k e ov e r p a y r o l l a n d o t h e r fiscal responsibilities it currently subcontracts has drawn mixed reaction from faculty and staff.

So u t h w e s t e r n C o l l e g e administrators decided to cut ties with the San Diego County Office of Education for BEACH payroll ser vices and bring the process in house by hiring three new employees, one of which will be an administrator. College officials have said the move would be cost effective due to the rising price of outsourcing the service.

Opponents of the plan said they worr y about a lack of oversight, the hiring of more non-academic personnel and the college’s wobbly history of financial management. They also complained that the decisionmaking process was not transparent.

Budget Committee Co-Chair Randy Beach said SWC made the commitment to be fiscally independent of the County Office of Education by July 2015.

“The desire is to be able to run the system ourselves as a shadow system to the County (Office),” he said. “It would continue doing our payroll until the end of June to make sure we’re doing everything correctly.”

Beach said if the County Office continued providing payroll, SWC would have had to migrate to an expensive ne w system known as PeopleSoft. Beach said using this new software would require the college to pay an initial fee of at least $550,000, followed by an annual fee of $60,000 to $75,000.

Rather than using this new software, he said, SWC has decided to cut ties with the county office and go fiscally independent.

Faculty union president Eric Maag said employees have concerns. A lot please see Independence pg. A3

MESA program downsized after funding loss

By Victor Ene Staff Writer

Southwestern College’s highlyregarded MESA program suffered a major blow this summer when it was not renewed for funding by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. Administrators at the Sacramento-based CCCCO said the SWC Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Achievements program was passed over for a competitive funding grant because the paperwork was not entirely completed.

A despondent Dr. Raga Bakhiet,

INSIDE:

SWC’s MESA director, accepted responsibility for the error. Bakhiet and others who reviewed the grant application skipped a section new to this year’s application form.

“Before submitting the paper work I did not notice that a form was missing,” said Bakhiet. “I also sent it to my colleagues to review it, but they did not notice anything missing [either].”

Bakhiet’s sister, SWC Professor of Biology Dr. Nouna Bakhiet, was gravely ill at the time of the application, but she refused to use that family trauma as an excuse. It will be almost five years before SWC is able to reapply.

Most SWC administrators earn good grades for accessibility Viewpoints, A6

MESA was created 20 years ago to help underrepresented students succeed in math and science. It has worked beyond the dreams of its creators, Bakhiet said. Research by the CCCCO showed that 74 percent of underrepresented students graduating from college with a Bachelor’s degree are MESA students.

“The purpose for MESA,” she said. “is to bridge the gap between the underrepresented and the privileged students.”

MESA students are assigned a counselor and a mentor to advise them on classes needed to fulfill their educational goals. SWC’s MESA Center

SWC rocks its first musical in seven years Arts, B1

was until this year a busy hub of tutoring and support.

“We used to have 800 students coming in a day,” Bakhiet said. “Now it is only a handful of them that come in.”

De’John Kinermon, a computer engineering major, is a member of MESA who said he appreciates the support offered to students.

“It is a place that provides a safe environment for everyone,” he said.

MESA student Rene Sanchez agreed.

“MESA prepares students for the future,” he said. “It gives you the tools

Football team 5-1 after beating archrivals Palomar, Mesa Sports, B7

please see MESA pg. A2

Big cats and other animals have a safe home in Alpine Backpage, B8

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Sep. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 2

ASO leaders complain of dysfunction

By Rick Flores & Adriana Heldiz Staff Writers

Cyrill Maclan and Laura Del Castillo ran against each other for student body president last spring. Today they are on the same side of a struggle, fighting what they call dysfunction in the Associated Student Organization.

Maclan said ASO meetings are random, chaotic and ineffective because student leaders do not follow Roberts Rules of Order or ASO by-laws. Del Castillo blames the ASO’s faculty advisors for not providing adequate training or support.

In a lengthy email to the college governing board and SWC President Dr. Me li nda Ni s h, Del Ca stillo complained that ASO Advisor Aaron Starck has “shut down” her attempts to call meetings to discuss the use of student funds to send ASO advisors to a student leadership conference.

Del Castillo said Starck insists student funding should be used to send himself and Student Activities Coordinator Yadira Garcia to a conference in Sacramento. Del Castillo said only one advisor is required to attend and she does not want to use student funds to pay for two advisors when she could send another student instead.

In her message to the board Del Castillo wrote, “There are some serious issues in the ASO” including “lack of accountability or financial affairs.”

“There has been a lack of transparency of financial affairs in the ASO in regards to students knowing where all the ASO funds go to,” Del Castillo wrote. “I myself just found out recently

Accreditation: ACCJC approves new board’s anti-corruption plan Continued from Page A1

business practices.”

Dr. Mink Stavenga, accreditation liaison officer, said the purpose of the report was to describe the findings of the San Diego Court Grand Jury investigations on construction bonds and demonstrate how SWC would verify the integrity of internal controls on construction funds in the future.

Seven SWC officials were indicted by the San Diego County District Attorney on felony corruption charges, including former superintendent Raj Kumar Chopra. Former Vice President for Fiscal Affairs Nicholas Alioto has also been charged for bribery and perjury. They were forced out when a new governing board majority took office in December 2010. Arlie Ricasa is the only remaining SWC administrator indicted by the District Attorney still employed at the college.

Although they supplement each other, Academic Senate President Randy Beach said the Special Report is not the same as the Midterm Report required for continued accreditation.

“The report does not carry with it the same amount of scrutiny that the Midterm Report would because there’s nothing in this report that’s directly tied to academics,” he said.

“It’s primarily business and finance policies and procedures.”

SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish s a i d s h e w a s p l e a s e d t h a t S WC received a positive response from ACCJC. In addition to explaining the findings of the Grand Jury, she said, the report details what SWC has done internally to assure institutional integrity to prevent another Grand Jury investigation.

“We feel we’re going to get something back from them saying ‘thank you very much,’” she said. “And we just found out that this is going to be a new standard. They’re going to develop new standards in 2014, so we’ll use them for our next self-evaluation because ours is 2015. And the new standard I.C. will be institutional integrity.”

In the report, seven recommendations and 20 action plans were created to improve the college’s internal business and fiduciar y controls, while ensuring public trust. This includes appropriate documentation of all decisions, including review and strict enforcement of SWC Conflict of Interest codes. SWC’s board and administration are also required to make any necessary modifications to SWC’s Code of Ethics.

that we fund employees, however, it seems that the documents that share the amounts and how much we truly have or what we really spend on seem to be very difficult to obtain.”

ASO funds pay the salaries of Starck and Garcia, Del Castillo said, as well as their travel expenses. She said she and other ASO officials want a full accounting of how ASO funding is spent on “non-student” expenses, personal and activities.

“The current lack of accountability and the authorization of so much money into activity other than student development is not okay and needs to be revealed,” she wrote.

Starck, in an email to Del Castillo earlier the same day, wrote that the expenditures were permitted.

“Campus policy is that student club activities must have an advisor present,” he wrote. “This includes the ASO. With respect to Student Activities Fees, it is my understanding that administration costs associated with providing student activities are an allowable use of student activities fees. As such there is not an issue with respect to paying for advisors to attend a function such as this with the students.”

Del Castillo received some support from first semester senator Sayaka Ridley, who attempted to amend the resolution that will send a second ASO advisor rather than a student senator to the 2013 California Community College Student Affairs Association (CCCSAA) leadership conference.

Ridley said the student funding would be better spent training another student.

Jaime Pronoble, editor

news

“We are the future,” said Ridley.

“Our generation is the future.”

Senator Charlie Millar argued that both ASO advisors should attend the conference because they, too, are learning.

“We can’t forget who’s guiding us to be leaders,” said Millar.

A similar issue arose when senators discussed a resolution to send three senators, the ASO president, one advisor, the organization Senator, plus three officers to the annual Student Senate for the California Community Colleges (SSCCC) Fall Assembly in Monterey, Calif. Expenses include more than $3,000 for airfare plus $225 registration for each student, for a total of about $7,000. Senator Karla Gadea quickly expressed her concerns.

“I’m a little bit aggravated” said Gadea, “I didn’t know that we had so much money and the fact that we’re sending only three ASO officers… I don’t think that’s enough.”

Other senators disagreed and the resolution was passed.

Maclan said students in the ASO do not receive adequate training to call, conduct and document meetings.

“Members do not have to know Roberts Rules (of Order),” she said.

“Members are only encouraged to do some background research on parliamentary procedure.”

ASO senators are not given an introduction to Roberts Rules when they take on their positions, Maclan said. Senators are asked to read a 15page parliamentary procedure manual in lieu of the 850-page “Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised.”

Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: news@theswcsun.com

PRSA honors Nish Dr. Melinda Nish jumped right into the frying pan when she became Southwestern College superintendent/ president in January 2012. Agents from the San Diego County District attorney were raiding the homes of current and former college officials, and the regions news media descended on the campus.

This month Nish was presented a regional award for her candor and transparency in dealing with the controversies surrounding the college’s construction bond controversy.

The San Diego/Imperial Counties chapter of Public Relations Society of America presented Nish with the Diogenes Award for demonstrating a “commendable understanding of the need for candor regardless of any potential

MESA: Skipped page results in zero funding for the next five years Continued from Page A1

you need to survive in your areas of professions as a (science, engineering or math) major.”

This summer 19 internships were awarded to SWC MESA students. The Lipp Family Organization sponsored six of those students.

“Students who are in the (science, engineering and math) majors are provided opportunities to participate in internship programs,” said Bakhiet.

“They work on projects with the internship hosts to help them develop more confidence, encouragement and prepare them in their areas of expertise.”

negative outcomes in the media.”

Nish was recognized for tackling contract procurement processes surrounding the Proposition R construction bond measure. Six former and one current SWC officials are currently under indictment as part of a far-reaching District Attorney investigation.

“Within a week after assuming the presidency, Nish contracted with my agency—Reliance Public Relations—to serve as interim public relations counsel for several months,” said Bill Gay in his nomination application. “It was immediately clear to me and my associate, Susan Giller, that Melinda Nish was a CEO who understands the value and role of a public relations professional.”

MESA helped their students who were unpaid interns by providing them with $2,000 to cover their expenses during the summer. This eased the financial hardships for those students coming back to school after the summer break that might not have received one of the many scholarships offered by MESA. In September at MESA Night students who completed internships gave presentations on what they had learned.

Last year, 30 SWC MESA students transferred to universities. Bakhiet said MESA students have high university graduation rates.

Last semester the SWC Associated Students Organization helped MESA to hire tutors during finals week. Other foundations donated a total of $11,500 to help keep MESA open. Bakhiet said she will pursue other grant and funding sources to keep SWC’s MESA alive.

news

The Southwestern College Sun

Higher One: College working to clarify rules of new system Continued from Page B4

as well.”

Lopez agreed.

“They sent me the card in the mail and they said I could access my financial aid through the card” she said. “I’m happy with it. It’s pretty easy.”

Although the debit card charges students banking fees, the college saves money for every check it does not need to process. A chart on the Higher One website displays all applicable fees, one of which costs the students 50 cents every time they input their PIN during a transaction. Another is the typical charge for using a non-company ATM which charges students $2.50 per use. Higher One ATMs are only located on campus.

Students who do not read the terms of agreements may not be aware of these fees when signing up for the card.

Reyes was unaware that he was being charged every time he swiped his Higher One card for all purchases. He is not alone. For that reason, Patti Larkin, director of financial aid, evaluations and veterans services, said an electronic newsletter would be sent out to financial aid recipients concerning the charges.

“We’ll be doing a newsletter in the fall just to tell students what’s going on for this year,” said Larkin, “and we’ll be doing one in the spring to give them a heads up on what’s going to be

going on the following year.”

For SWC students receiving financial aid, the process is completely without fees unless they chose to have their refunds directly transferred into a Higher One bank account.

Partnering with Higher One has brought SWC many benefits, Larkin said.

“The primary benefit that Higher One provides for students is it gives them choices, which they didn’t have in the past,” she said.

“In the past students could only receive their financial aid via paper check.”

Larkin said the reason Higher One was chosen over other vendors, such as Sallie Mae, was the lower cost of processing checks and the number of benefits for students. Larkin said students have been asking for a quicker and simpler way to receive financial aid. Higher One is a third party vendor that provides services to SWC as well as hundreds of other college districts such as Long Beach City and Los Angeles. It also prevents the money from being lost or stolen, said Larkin.

“I have had tragic cases of students who cashed a very large check and lost it,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do. Our hands are tied.”

Students receiving financial aid through the Higher One card are not required to bank there, said Larkin.

“Some students were under the misperception that they had to open an account with Higher One and that was absolutely not the case at all,” she explained.

Questions about Higher One may be answered through the SWC website or the Higher One website, Twitter, or Facebook accounts.

Sept. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013—Vol. 57, Issue 2

Rick Flores/staff

WEIGHING THE EVIDENCE — Judge Ana España listened as defendent Jesus Gandara’s attorney Paul Pfingst argued that expensive dinners are normal political procedure for construction contractors and public officials.

Court: DA drops 22 charges, 240 remain to prosecute in So. Bay case Continued from Page A1

for politicians to do favors for their contributors.

“Everyone that contributes to a politician expects the politician to favor them in some way, but the politician is not articulating any exchange for that contribution,” said Gonzales.

España said there were several lavish dinners around a time critical votes were being taken.

“The vendors who gave them gifts benefited significantly by winning these lucrative contracts at Sweetwater, right?” she said.

Attorney Paul Pfingst, attorney for former Sweetwater superintendent Jesus

Trustees critical of Alliant-Sweetwater pact

By Alma Hurtado Staff Writer

A new partnership between Alliant University and the Sweetwater Union High School District is drawing fire from an array of educators, including at least two Southwestern College governing board members.

Sweetwater agreed to encourage at least 50 students to enroll at the pricey, mostly-online university every year starting in 2014. SWC Board President Humberto Peraza said he does not like the arrangement.

“It should be a choice for some, I just don’t agree with how the situation with the Sweetwater district is being handled,” he said.

When students speak to a high school counselor about possible choices for their collegiate years, they should be able to go in knowing they are getting an honest opinion instead of a sales job to meet a district quota, Peraza said. Personal attention

from counseling sessions could be California universities like Stanford, compromised as students Berkeley, UCLA and UC are steered in a direction San Diego. Critics are also t h e y w o u l d n o t h a v e “If you concerned that proprietary considered otherwise, he are going universities like Alliant are warned. recruiting veterans with GI “We cannot have biased to get a Bill college money. Alliant’s principals and counselors StanfordSan Diego campus has asked pushing students towards for government subsidies.

Alliant simply because style debt Pe r a z a s a i d t h a t i s n o t t h e y h a v e a q u o t a t o you should acceptable. meet,” Peraza said.

“If Alliant wants to survive SWC Board Member get a on its own as a school I think Nora Vargas agreed.

Stanford- that is great, I just think it “I think students should should be without taxpayer’s be able to go anywhere style subsidies,” he said. they choose,” she said. education.”

Expensive private “It is not okay for school u n ive r si ti es lik e A l l ia n t Humberto Peraza often saddle students with districts to have quotas to send people to certain Governing Board mountains of debt with schools.” little to show, Peraza said.

President Besides Alliant’s less“If you are going to get than-stellar academic a Stanford-style debt,” he r e p u t a t i o n , t h e s c h o o l i s v e r y said, “you should get a Stanford-style expensive and can cost as much as elite education.”

Gandara, responded.

“Yes,” said Pfingst, “and they made it very clear we want to maintain good relations with the elected officials at Sweetwater. This is certainly not unique.”

España said the evidence presented by the grand jury suggests there is an agreement between contractors, financiers, SWC and Sweetwater officials to commit bribery.

“There is sufficient evidence in grand jury transcripts to support that finding,” she said.

Gilbane Building Company cooperated with investigators and turned over records of questionable entertainment expenses, receipts and emails by its former employee Henry Amigable, said Schorr.

Amigable, who worked on projects at SWC, allegedly paid bribes in exchange for contract deals. One of his biggest benefactors was former SWC administrator Nick Alioto, former SWC Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs. Alioto was not granted dismissal of any of the12 charges against him.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said defendants received scores of bribes in the form of dinners, concert tickets, Los Angeles Lakers tickets, hotel stays, Southwest Airlines tickets, trips to Napa Valley and even cash for children’s beauty pageants.

Most of the defendants have criminal affidavits more than 100 pages long.

Schorr told the judge that it is out of the ordinary for public officials to receive expensive gifts and meals when they are supposed to be representing the best interests of the district and public tax dollars.

“Gifts that are illegal because they’re over the limit and gifts that are not reported – that’s where we have some serious issues,” he said.

The majority of remaining charges are felonies and, if convicted, defendants could face prison time, Schorr said.

España said all defendants are required to appear in court Oct. 29 for a readiness conference.

Independence: Some faculty say decision not adequately discussed

pursue independence in March, Maag said, despite the fact that was no campus or community input on the proposal. Maag said a hastily-called campus-wide “town meeting” held on Oct. 15 was not held for the purpose of voting for fiscal independence.

An email inviting members of the campus community to the noon meeting was sent at 11:17 a.m., just 43 minutes prior to the start. Many campus employees expressed grave concerns about lack of transparency and failure to involve the campus in the decision.

“That decisions had already been made,” said Maag. “It wasn’t really part of a shared governance approach.”

Professor of Learning Skills Corina Soto agreed.

“The meeting seemed to demonstrate the technical fulfillment of shared governance, but not the spirit,” she said. “This works because you get what you want and all you have to do afterward is to either say you were sorry or that there must have been some sort of miscommunication.”

The meeting’s purpose was to gather input on three positions associated with fiscal independence: payroll director, human resources position control technician and an internal auditor, according to Maag.

“The decision to go fiscally independent was made months and months ago without input from the constituent groups on campus,” said Maag. “Being asked to have a shared governance system on whether we should hire the positions associated (with a previously approved decision) seems kind of backwards.”

The payroll director is the only position directly associated with fiscal independence, said Maag. The other two are an attempt to update the school’s software and systems, he said.

“Part of fiscal independence does require an internal auditor,” said Maag. “Even though (the district is) saying it’s not associated with that, technically we probably wouldn’t qualify for fiscal independence without the internal auditor.”

A Shared Consultation Council m e e t i n g s c h e d u l e d f o r Nov. 6 includes a formal vote on adding administration and classified p o s i t i o n s n e e d e d t o t a k e ov e r payroll.

“The results of that vote are only a recommendation to the president,” said Maag. “And the president has pretty much indicated that we will be hiring those positions.”

Continued from Page A1

of people are rightfully nervous with the prospect of the college being able to look into grievances and making sure payroll is done correctly, he said.

“There is a risk with potentially increasing our liability,” said Maag.

“When (County Office professionals) are involved, they act as a check and balance against our accounting methods in the payroll department.”

When he used to with the debate team Maag said he was forwarded expense money from the college.

When he came back he had to provide receipts for all expenditures.

“The County would make sure those receipts met the standards of the state,” he said. “When there is no County involved we are responsible for those things. We would be liable for any mistakes that were made.”

SWC’s governing board decided to

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September 14 - October 18, 2013, Volume 57, Issue 2

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The Southwestern College Sun

Protesters Worldwide March Against Monsanto

Southwestern students join global protest to ban GMO’s agrachemicals

S

Story and Photos By Marshall Murphy

outhwestern College students joined a worldwide march protesting the spread of pesticides, the proliferation of genetically modified seeds and the stunning collapse of America’s bee population. Marches were held in more than 400 cities in 52 countries, according to organizers.

Protesters criticized the development of herbicide Agent Orange used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange caused the defoliation of the jungles of Southeast Asia, critics argued, and changed the genetic make-up of the humans exposed to it. Environmentalists and scientists blame Monsanto’s “Round-Up Ready” seeds with encouraging an explosion in the use of powerful pesticides that have decimated bee populations. Monsanto has also been begun to patent seeds, critics say, in an effort to corner the global food market.

SWC students were among the protesters on Park Blvd. near Balboa Park.

Kevin Mark, 24, a history major and secretary of the Global Studies Club, was there.

“Fruits and vegetables at your average grocery store are probably GMOs,” he said. “There are studies coming out saying GMOs alter your health.

Kids are starting to get diseases from eating them.”

In a 2012 study published in The Food and Chemical Toxicology Journal, rats fed Monsanto’s genetically-modified corn suffered from organ failure, developed of large tumors and experienced premature death.

Mark said he protested in order to bring awareness to the dangers of GMOs. “The well is poisoned,” he said.

Starting in Balboa Park about 1,000 marchers went down Park Avenue to the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp District. Protesters returned to the World Beat Center where organic food was sold.

HELL NO GMO - (clockwise from l) Southwestern College students Daniel Sanchez, Lynne Ladao and Paulina Rico march to protest the tactics of agribusiness giant Monsanto Coporation. Supporters of California Right to Know Act call for proper labeling of Genetically-Modified Organisms in food products.

More than 1,000 protesters hold signs blaming Monsanto for the sudden collapse of the bee population.

Paulina Rico, 21, an international studies major and president of the Global Studies Club, came out to support proper labeling of GMOs in food products. She said she was a supporter of the California Right to Know Act, (Proposition 37) which failed to pass last November.

“We want to know what the hell is in our food,” she said.

She was not alone.

Hugh Moore, treasurer of the Green Party of San Diego, spoke at the rally.

“The current administration, and previous Republican administrations, have repeatedly appointed prior employees from Monsanto Corporation to the Food and Drug Administration.” he said. “[They] are actually approving products that are not safe for public consumption.”

Moore said the government’s loyalty is to corporations, not citizens.

“The government is not responding to the needs of the people, therefore the public has to protest to make their word known,” said Moore. “Unfortunately, the ballot box is no longer a strong enough way to show disdain. It doesn’t matter, particularly in the U.S., where there are two corporatecontrolled parties. Whether you vote Republican or Democrat, it doesn’t really matter.”

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The Southwestern College Sun

VIEWPOINTS

September 14 - October 18, 2013, Volume 58, Issue 2

Editorials, Opinions and Letters to the Editor

The mission of the Southwestern College Sun is to serve its campuses and their communities by providing information, insights and stimulating discussions of news, activities and topics relevant to our readers. The Staff strives to produce a newspaper that is timely, accurate, fair, interesting, visual and accessible to readers. Though the “Sun” is a student publication, staff members ascribe to the ethical and moral guidelines of professional journalists.

ANNA PRYOR

Technology can be detrimental to relationships T

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

David McVicker ART DIRECTOR/BUSINESS MANAGER

Amanda L. Abad PRODUCTION MANAGER

Daniel Guzman SENIOR STAFF

Nickolas Furr NEWS

Jaime Pronoble, editor Liliana Cervantes, assistant Jason O’Neal, assistant Richard O’Rourke, assistant Kasey Thomas, assistant VIEWPOINTS

Anna Pryor, editor Ytzel Alonso, assistant CAMPUS

Joaquin Basauri, co-editor Amanda L. Abad, co-editor Gonzalo Quintana, assistant ARTS

Daphne Jauregui, editor Saira Araiza, assistant Fernanda Gutierrez, assistant SPORTS

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Nicholas Baltz, editor John Domogma, assistant ONLINE

Mason Masis, editor Kimberly Ortiz, assistant Fernando Garcia, videographer PHOTOGRAPHY

Serina Duarte, editor Karen Tome, assistant

STAFF WRITERS

Luis Alltriste

Victor Ene

Jose Luis Baylon

Adrian Gomez

Maria Bertalan

Kael Heath

Brittany Black-Jones

Adriana Heldiz

Cindy Borjas

Alma Hurtado

Lee Bosch

Victoria Leyva

Madeline Cabrera

Alyssa Pajarillo

Georgina Carriola

Ana Raymundo

Zayda Cavazos

Gabriel Sandoval

Pablo Cervantes

Marianna Saponara

Andre Chenavo

CARTOONISTS

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Alisa Alipusan

Priscila Berumen

Dan Cordero

Rick Flores

Wendy Gracia

John Freeman

Gabriel Hernandez

Pablo Gandara

Joaquin Junco Jr.

Marshall Murphy

Michelle Phillips

Pablo Pedroza Kristina Saunders

Student Press Law Center

Society of Professional

National College Press

Journalists

Freedom Award, 2011

National Mark of

National Newspaper

Excellence, 2001-13

Association

First Amendment Award,

National College

2002, 2005

Newspaper of the Year, 2004-13

San Diego Press Club

Associated Collegiate Press

Excellence in Journalism

National College Newspaper

Awards 1999-2013

of the Year

Directors Award for Defense

National Newspaper

of Free Speech, 2012

Pacemaker Award,

Journalism Association of

2003-06, 2008, 2009, 2011,

Community Colleges

2012

Pacesetter Award 2001-13

General Excellence Awards,

General Excellence Awards,

2001-13

2000-13

Best of Show Awards, 2003-12

San Diego County Fair

Columbia University

Media Competition

Scholastic Press Association

Best of Show 2001-03,

Gold Medal for Journalism

2005-2012

Excellence, 2001-13

American Scholastic Press

California Newspaper

Association

Publishers Assoc.

Community College

California College Newspaper

Newspaper of the Year

of the Year, 2012

San Diego County

Student Newspaper

Multicultural Heritage

General Excellence, 2002-13

Award

Wendy Gracia/Staff

The Issue: State and federal laws require public colleges to be open and transparent.

Our Position: Most SWC administrators earned high marks for accessibility, but some ignore the law.

Most administrators are accessible, but some serious problems remain Southwestern College’s 2010 revolution is nearing its third anniversary and the Chopra/Alioto crew that wreaked havoc and nearly ruined this institution are mostly gone.

Many are facing felony corruption charges and may soon be guests of the California prison system. They thought they could make their own rules. They are now learning otherwise.

SWC is slowly rebuilding its reputation and its image thanks to an honest governing board, resilient faculty and steady staff. SWC’s pay-for-play era appears to be over and ethics is slowly pushing out corruption and cronyism.

But we have not yet reached the Promised Land.

Transparency—one of the campaign issues of all four of the reformist governing board members—is still a problem at Southwestern College, particularly among some of the administrators who are Chopra holdovers. Some campus leaders have not gotten the memo that the days of secrecy and arrogance are supposed to be behind us.

It is time for a stern reminder from the governing board and perhaps a swift kick. If that does not work pink slips are in order. SWC has too much at stake and too much to lose to let a few renegades who do not think state and federal laws apply to them drag this college back into accreditation trouble or legal problems.

In this issue of The Sun the Editorial Board and staff grades administrators on accessibility based on our experiences working with them. We define an accessible administrator as one who accepts appointments and returns messages in a timely manner, answers questions honestly and completely, and provides documents when requested. ( Report card on page A-6. ) We are happy to report that most SWC administrators scored well. Others are improving. We applaud the college’s top administrators, President Dr. Melinda Nish and Vice-President of Student Services Dr. Angelica Suarez, for modeling the way. Both ladies earned A grades. Nish and Suarez both have enormous responsibilities and busy schedules, but always manage to squeeze in interview requests from newspaper students and provide candid information. Thank you. Four of our five governing board members also earned an A grade.

On the bottom end of the grade scale are the college’s least accessible and most opaque administrators, Joe Figuera and Mia McClellan.

Figuera, director of food services and the campus bookstore, is a nice man and generally polite, but completely unhelpful. He is uncooperative even when reporters make it clear they are working on a positive

Online Comments Policy

story. As director of our cafeteria and bookstore he is an important source, but he is Dr. No when it comes to the news media.

McClellan, SWC’s most media-hostile employee, is a walking stonewall who uses her staff to block all interviews and information requests.

McClellan’s refusal to speak to student reporters is legendary among SWC journalism students and borders on pathological. Her obstinance appears to have rubbed off on subordinates like former ASO directors Craig Moffat and Arlie Ricasa as well as current ASO supervisor Aaron Stark, all of whom have earned reputations for uncooperative, obfuscating behavior.

Journalism students are not the only persons with the right to question public administrators and see public documents. Every California citizen has the right to know how their tax dollars are spent. Freedom of the press is protected by the United States Constitution. All citizens have the right to access elected and appointed officials, as well as the work they generate. Post-Watergate government transparency laws pulled the curtains on secretive, shadowy government.

McClellan, mysteriously, will not even show SWC students documents pertaining to the new online parking permit purchasing system. Even though The Sun was preparing a highly-positive report on the almost-universally popular innovation that was pitched to the newspaper by the college president, McClellan refused to cooperate and worse, refuses to turn over relevant documentation, a direct violation of California law. She has even refused to cooperate with Southwestern’s document request compliance officer when presented with a formal and legally-binding California Public Records Act request.

Besides embarrassing the college, McClellan’s antidemocratic behavior has put the institution at risk of legal action, fines and sanctions. WASC and outside media organizations are now aware of her actions.

SWC has come too far to slip back into the days of secrecy, obfuscation and “I make my own rules” arrogance.

College administrators are often guilty of cherry picking laws and policies, following those they like, ignoring those they do not. McClellan, who loves to wave rules in students’ faces, ought to follow them, too.

Let us hope that Dr. Nish and Governing Board Members Humberto Peraza, Norma Hernandez, Tim Nader and Nora Vargas will continue to work as reformers and demand that ALL SWC administrators behave in an ethical, transparent manner and follow the laws of the state.

Letters Policy Send mailed letters to: Editor, Southwestern College Sun, 900

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Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista, CA 91910. Send e-mailed letters to

in the newspaper and will not consider publishing

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theswcsun.com.

Opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily represent the views of The Sun Staff, the Editorial Board or

echnology has connected the world like never before. Ironically, connectivity is causing an epidemic of relationship disconnections.

Facebook is one of the biggest detriments to modern relationships.

Millions of people use this social media site daily. It has changed the way many people think, communicate and feel, often for the worse.

Facebook fuels a new level of stalking.

In less than 30 minutes on someone’s profile, a person can learn their likes, dislikes and everything in-between.

Sadly, this eliminates mutual exchanges relevant to relationship growth. Learning new things about one another is enjoyable, but the process is destroyed by knowing everything beforehand.

Instead of discovering information in an intimate and personal setting, it is done through an inanimate screen like a research project.

Facebook also fosters suspicion, insecurity and jealousy. “Green-eyed monster” is right. Questioning who is commenting on a partner’s photo, or slyly looking over shoulders to see who is messaging can lead to jealous men and women logging into their partner’s account without permission to view who they are talking to, when and about what.

Digging up old exchanges between a partner and an ex is pitiful and often scary. It is unrealistic to believe that someone has never been with anyone else.

While invasions of privacy are never warranted, suspicions may be. In the past it took more work and strategy to cheat, today it only takes a couple of clicks. It takes next to no effort to text a past love or message a new interest.

Fighting is an inescapable component of any relationship. There are productive ways to go about arguing, then there is Facebook. Posting cryptic Facebook statuses and sending snarky text messages is too easy and very hurtful. Facebook and emails often eliminate cooling off time.

Non-verbal communication accounts for a large percentage of communication.

Subtle movements, eye contact and body language are vital signs of discourse.

Messages and texts can be easily misconstrued because they cannot smile, shrug or change their voice. People can.

Technology can also make parting of the ways uglier than it has to be. It is easy to fire out a “We’re over” message, but also cowardly. Ending a relationship this way shows an absence of compassion and class. Rather than face-to-face closure, many hide behind the screens to do their dirty work.

Facebook, weirdly, is often used as a tool to validate and announce relationships. Before the honeymoon phase has ended, it has become the standard to make it “Facebook official.”

Facebook gives the option to signify a relationship status on a profile. After it is posted, friends have the ability to “like” it. It is one big competition.

Where celebrities strive to keep their relationships out of the media, many of the not-so-famous are putting theirs on display. Drama ensues and a relationship built on theatrics is not a solid foundation.

Technology has virtues along with downsides. Long-distance relationships, including military deployments, are less lonely due to technology. While a “Dear John” letter may now come via text or email, it may not have to happen at all thanks to more direct communication.

Relationships hit rough patches.

They become stagnant and boring.

Technology only worsens this. Too often eyes are glued to screens during what could be quality time. It is easy to get offended when someone is not paying full attention. Switching from site to please see Technology pg. A7

Southwestern College.

Anna may be reached at sexandthesun@theswcsun.com

A7

Sept. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013 — Vol. 58, Issue 2

Thinking

Out Loud

Which do you prefer?

Starbucks or Jason’s?

Anna Pryor, editor

VIEWPOINTS

Tel: (619) 309-7908 E-mail: viewpoints@theswcsun.com

Administration sells out SWC’s beloved Jason’s

By Joaquin Basauri A Perspective

“Unless you become more watchful in your states and check the spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges you will in the end find that… the control over your dearest interests has passed into the hands of these corporations.” – Andrew Jackson “Overall I like Tradewinds now because Starbucks is here.

Starbucks is the best for me. I love it.”

Valerie Salazar, 20, Sociology Major

“I didn’t know there was Starbucks on campus. Jason’s has excellent customer service. That’s why I like Jason’s”

Sebastian Escobar, 22, Biology major

“I prefer Jason’s because he has yerba matte [tea] and organic trade coffee and the people who work there are very nice.”

Stefania Rosas, 21, Undecided Major

“I prefer Starbucks because I already know what it tastes like and I can’t get it anywhere else because I don’t have a car.”

Ronnielen Cabales, 19, Biology major

A war is brewing at Southwestern College. A coffee war, yes, but also a war against a corporate bully and a meanspirited college administrator.

Jason’s Courtyard Café must now contend with the ubiquitous coffee shop executioners, Starbucks, not to mention a hostile SWC Director of Food Services.

Since the Starbucks boom of the 1990s, coffee shops worldwide have been crushed by the convenience and massive scale of the Seattle-based brew masters.

What was once a modest coffee shop located by the famous Pike Place Market has evolved into an imperialistic force determined to monopolize the world’s coffee market.

Jason’s Courtyard Café has proudly served the SWC community with distinction for 13 years. It has become a SWC landmark, a mecca for bright minds and fine-tuned taste. Amazing customer service and a simple but perfected menu has been more than enough to keep customers coming back in flocks to this humble coffee stand.

Unfortunately, the café is now being threatened by a big name competitor thanks to its arch-enemy, SWC’s Joe Fighera. Our cafeteria chief has hated Jason’s since day one because it is more popular and more highly regarded than his pedestrian cafeteria. For more than a decade Fighera has sabotaged Jason’s by banning sales of certain items like sandwiches and blended drinks.

Whenever Jason outthinks him with an innovation, Fighera either swipes the idea or has it in the next contract.

Despite all this, Jason’s has grown in popularity while the college’s c a f e t e r i a s r e m a i n u n p o p u l a r.

SWC has demonstrated the height of hypocrisy and has sided with a bully. A grant recently awarded to SWC’s Small

Dan Cordero/Staff

Business Development Center is to fund emerging small businesses in hopes of creating jobs, yet crushing Jason’s, a small business that hires several SWC students, gets pounded. Why invite the world’s largest coffee shop corporation on to campus when there is already a high-quality cart?

It is disappointing that our school’s administration, which is supposed to serve the community, can be so cold towards an ethical establishment that puts students’ interests first.

Starbucks predatory attack on Jason’s is shameful. Across the street is San Diego County’s busiest and most prosperous Starbucks across the street, so it’s not like

Jason’s is much of a threat to Starbuck’s stock prices.

Although some argue that there is no foul serving Starbucks on campus, it is naïve to believe that the college’s end game does not include Tradewind’s Café becoming a full-fledged Starbucks. SWC has tried to defend it self by claiming that proceeds made from selling Starbucks go right back into school programs. Umm, Jason’s has done the same thing for 13 years, providing the ASO with a steady revenue stream. Starbucks is clearing out yet another competitor.

It is time for students to speak up and defend this campus treasure. We must support a café that has served

coffee with a smile during good times or bad. On a campus sadly short of excellence and worthy traditions, Jason’s is both. Students must convince our administration that it is committing another blunder by crippling Jason’s, a loyal campus institution.

Jason’s Courtyard Café is as much a part of SWC’s culture as any educational or athletics program. For the past 13 years, Jason and his student-employees have served us, fed us and talked to us when we needed encouragement. They have also fed tens of thousands of dollars into student programs.

For all this our college leadership wants to wipe them out. Shameful.

Outrageous San Ysidro wait times

By Fernanda Gutierrez and Saira Araiza A Perspective

“I like Starbucks because when they mix their coffee it is just right, but at Jason’s sometimes it will be too sweet or sometimes they don’t put enough sweetener.”

Angelica Joy, 23, Photography Major

Technology: Constant and

obsessive use of technology can damage relationships Continued from Page A6

site, computer screen to phone and then app to app has been proven to damage our ability to concentrate, which in turn hurts school, work optimization and our ability to hold meaningful conversation with a partner.

Humans are not meant to stand in fact ory lines assembling products like they did during the Industrial Revolution.

We are also not programmed to stare at screens and scroll through phones constantly. Information overload has made America an anxiety-ridden nation.

Negativity and irritability are often directly relayed on to partners. The fuse is lit.

Relationships need rules and boundaries and so does technology.

Agree to turn off devices while together.

Maintain a respectful amount of trust, privacy and transparency. Log out and let the love in.

While most Southwestern College students are still sound asleep, others are torn from their beds in Baja California to embark on an exhausting odyssey that involves crossing the world’s busiest international border.

Although most students who live in Mexico are within 12-30 miles of the Chula Vista campus, they may as well live in Arizona.

Literally, Arizona.

Traveling via public transportation from central Tijuana to SWC routinely takes three hours. Four is not unheard of.

Five happens. Astonishingly, it is often quicker and easier to get to Chula Vista from Palm Springs, Bakersfield, Oxnard, El Centro or Yuma, Arizona than the “Gateway to Mexico.”

College students who live in Mexico are to a surprisingly high degree not Mexican. Legions of American citizens live in Mexico for the affordable housing and much lower cost of living. Tijuana is an action-packed city that skews young and holds an edgy romanticism for many.

Mexico-based students expect no quarter and receive none. They have to follow the same rules as students who live in el norte. SWC policies that allow instructors to drop a student after three tardies or if hours of unexcused absences exceed the number of hours the class meets per week apply to everyone. With the pressure to be on time students who live in Mexico wake before the rooster can sing its first morning tune.

Victor Salazar, a former SWC student, said he awoke at 4:30 a.m. to get to his 9:30 a.m. class. La frontera can be a tough line to cross. Even early risers do not always make it. Hundreds of things can tie up the border from 9/11 to narcotraficantes to Señora Rosales trying to sneak birria de chivo across for

Joaquin Junco Jr./Staff

a quinceañera.

SWC student Alma Alcazar battled lines at the San Ysidro border for three years and has been forced to drop early morning classes due to excessive tardiness or absences. She said wait times go from one extreme to another. Alcazar said she leaves home four hours prior to her 9 a.m. class and still does not always make it on time. Classes at 8 a.m. are no longer an option for her, she said.

This spring police officers from the Mexican side of the border took matters into their own hands and created a student line. Three- and four-hour waits for students plunged to 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, non-students complained and the line was discontinued after two months. Camelot ended too soon.

This fall the San Ysidro crossing

established a ready lane for pedestrians. It is a mixed bag that does not always work.

Customs and Border Protection Officers must process 25,000 pedestrians and 50,000 vehicles every day. Speeding students along does not seem to be a priority.

Custom officers randomly ask pedestrians how long their wait time was, but the purpose of this question is irrelevant as long as nothing is being done. If there is no solution to the problem, then why pretend to be interested by asking their wait time?

Wait times have gone from a brutal three hours to 30 minutes for most ready lane users who pay a $50 annual fee, but the border is still volatile and unpredictable. Ready lanes in San Ysidro are not much of a solution. They are like

Tylenol for a headache but not a cure for migraines.

Patience is a virtue, but making students wait in general public lines for hours is insane. Finding a solution for the wait time problem seems to be harder than finding a parking spot on campus the first day of school.

Mexico and the United States need to work together to use modern technology to accelerate the inspection process.

Student lines should be restored. Wait times for students need to come down – way down. Same for lines for honest workers.

Students can spend between 250-300 hours each semester waiting in border lines. That is time better spent studying, working, serving an internship or – God forbid! – sleeping.

A8

Sept. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013 — Vol. 58, Issue 2

viewpoints

Most Southwestern administrators score well on accessibility

SWC needs security cameras

S

By Andrea Boggs A Perspective

Security and surveillance cameras are a daily sight in buses, banks, stores and restaurants. Most people have come to accept them and find them comforting as a safeguard against crime.

Southwestern College should also invest in security cameras because th e small amount of crime that does occur here could be prevented.

More important, big crimes could be prevented, too. Tragedies that have happened elsewhere could happen here.

Being photographed or videotaped is something most people have grown used to. Camera lenses are everywhere.

Built-in cameras on monitors of computers have enabled users to have video chats with folks on the other side of the planet. People who have become used to using cameras or Skype do not have the same attitude about cameras older generations did when George Orwell wrote his paranoid political classic “1984.” Interestingly enough, the government is not Orwell’s “Big Brother.” Most surveillance is done by private concerns.

Cameras have become a valuable tool for recording abuse of authority.

Violent cops, sadistic nannies and dysfunctional senior care facilities have all been busted by well-placed cameras. It seems old-fashioned that we do not have security cameras in the classrooms and that is most likely a result of our college’s shrunken budget.

Cameras would lower the risk of sexual

outhwestern College was the target of national scorn and ridicule in 2009 and 2010 when an authoritarian administration led by Raj Kumar Chopra and Nicholas Alioto tried to shut down the college newspaper and silence student voices. Chopra, Alioto and former public information officer Chris Bender ordered college employees not to speak to students from The Sun in an attempt to curtail access as it broke the South Bay Corruption Scandal.

A ballot box revolution ensued in November 2010 and a new board majority swept out most of the Chopra regime. Most SWC administrators are following the board’s lead and have earned high marks for openness and accessibility. A few Chopra holdovers, however, continue to behave badly and are uncooperative with student media and members of the community.

Following is a breakdown of administrative accessibility based on the experiences of SWC Sun staff:

An A grade was awarded to leaders who consistantly show a willingness to talk to the press, respond to emails and do not make gathering information a chore. 20 college leaders earned an A grade, including Dr. Melinda Nish, who has been very accessible to student journalists.

Michelle Phillips/Staff

harassment to students and instructors.

In 2011 there were three car thefts at SWC. But if a low crime rate has put the college back on its heels, that is an opening for a disaster.

Robert Sanchez, SWC’s acting police chief, said cameras at high-traffic buildings like the Academic Success Center are not catching any crimes.

“Theft of backpacks, cell phones, i Pa d s , a n y t h i n g e l e c t r o n i c t h a t people leave behind for long periods of time, they get stolen,” he said.

“Unfortunately, a lot of the crimes end up happening outside of the view of the cameras because they are fixed.

They don’t pan, they don’t tilt and they’re just a fixed station.”

Newer buildings at SWC are more

likely to have security camera systems already installed because they are a part of the design. Sanchez said campus police do not plan to add more cameras.

“It all depends on funding,” he said. “I mean priority comes to the students and classroom space and instructional services before it comes to anything secondary such as the camera systems.”

Funding could come from the Proposition R facilities bond. A priority should be security camera systems for older buildings, including the classrooms and parking lots. This investment would help keep SWC safe and beautiful like a community college campus should be.

Administration-heavy college needs to re-invest in academics

By Jason O’Neal A Perspective

Southwestern College administrators are wasting no time patting their own backs for the recent “restoration” of salaries for classified employees and the fact that faculty is no longer being asked to take a pay cut. Lost in the grandstanding is the embarrassing fact that the overworked faculty is smaller and underpaid and that thousands of students are not getting into classes.

While administrators were using their positions at SWC to collect heft sixfigure salaries, faculty members and some classified employees were left out in the cold working for less money. Some even lost their homes. SWC faculty has not had a raise in seven years and is one of the lowest paid in California. This should not be tolerated nor accepted by this community, which holds SWC’s faculty in high regard.

After several years of labor negotiations, fewer classes and mismanagement of funds by the administration that culminated in the near-loss of accreditation and the infamous “South Bay Corruption Scandal,” the most recent assaults on faculty came last year when administration tried to coerce them into taking another pay cut—the third in ten years.

Although accreditation was eventually restored, classified accepted a coercive 5 percent decrease in pay from former superintendent Raj Chopra with the promise of no lay-offs. Faculty was forcefed larger class sizes and larger workload.

Once the agreement was signed, Chopra laid off five employees (four of which were re-hired or paid restitution) and class schedules were cut. Since 2008 SWC has lost more than half its classes.

Overall quality of education has dropped because fewer full-time faculty members teach classes. Increased class sizes have forced many faculty members to teach up to 45 students at a time. Teaching schedules often force instructors to skip lunch and, despite office hours, they are unable to spend much out-of-class time with students because classes run back-toback-to-back.

All the while, most members of the SWC administration have seen pay increases.

Four vice presidents received huge raises while other employees faced salary reductions. Recent news on administrators taking a pay cut this past summer was a clever disguise to hide their net pay raise from the previous budget.

Some administrators work hard, but too many do not. One needs only to at their schedules. Extended lunch breaks are creatively disguised as “private meetings.”

The Southwestern College Sun

-Dr. Raga Bakhiet, Director of MESA Program -Dr. Malia Flood, Director of the DDS -Linda Gilstrap, Dean, Officer of Institutional Effectiveness -Linda Hensley, Director of Institutional Effectiveness -Norma L. Hernandez, Governing Board Member -Lillian Leopold, Public Information Officer -Dr. Joel Levine, Dean, School of Language and Literature -Janet Mazzarella, Dean, School of Mathamatics, Science and Engineering -Catherine McJannet, Director of Nursing and Health Occupations -Patrice Milkovisch, Director, Crown Cove Aquatic Center -Tim Nader, Governing Board Member -Dr. Melinda Nish, Superintendent / President -Luis Nunez, Director of Medical Laboratory Technician and Medical Office Professional Programs -Christine Perri, Dean, Higher Education Center at National City and Crown Cove Aquatic Center -Humberto Peraza, Governing Board President -Dr. Mink Stavenga, Dean, Instructional Support Services and Continuing Education -Dr. Angelica Suarez, Vice President of Student Affairs -Stephen Tadlock, Director of Continuing Education -Kathy Tyner, Vice President of Student Affairs -Nora E. Vargas, Governing Board Member

B grades were assigned to a pair of friendly, helpful campus leaders who are a little too hard to reach.

-Donna Arnold, Dean, School of Arts and Communication -Cynthia Nagura, Director of Operations

Grades of C were given to leaders who are difficult to schedule or who put off information requests.

-John Brown, Director, Facilities, Operations & Planning -Steven Crow, Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs -Dr. Mark Meadows, Dean, School of Social Sciences, Business, and Humanities

D grades were assigned to leaders who are frequently uncooperative or who give incomplete or inaccurate information.

-Silvia Darcy, Dean, Higher Education at Otay Mesa and San Ysidro -Terry Davis, Dean, School of Health, Exercise Science, Athletics and Applied Technology -Dr. Alberto Roman, Vice President for Human Resources

Ailsa Alipusan/Staff

Some administrators have “private meetings” at the end of the day, particularly Friday afternoons. One administrator scheduled the commute home, with a reminder to leave campus at the end of the day. Perhaps this administrator should include the commute to campus in the morning, but that would require this person to show up on time and ready to work.

Professors and adjuncts are held to a different standard. They have to be available all day, report to classes and teach students. Unlike administration employees whose workday is over when they leave their office, faculty members require extra time to grade and evaluate students after classes have dismissed. Professors that run co-curricular programs (Mariachi, forensics, journalism, MESA and others) often work more than 80 hours a week.

Faculty should stand their ground against any more salary give-aways.

Cutting salaries for faculty in the name of austerity cannot offset the money spent on new administrators and administrative support staff that have the luxury of a lenient workday. A century of labor

struggles and decades of disputes have shown that concessions do not end well for those giving up their rights and benefits.

Unions gain nothing from compromising with management. Negotiating salary cuts, faculty positions and class sizes leaves a weaker workforce for the next round of concessions that linger over the horizon.

More important, these cuts diminish educational quality and hurt students.

Though salary cuts are now off the table, faculty has been given a warning shot. Teachers are considered expendable commodities by this management. When faculty come under fire by visionless administrations, students take a backseat.

Every student on campus should be concerned about the future employment of the professors and adjuncts that teach their classes. Students need to talk to teachers, attend governing board meetings, get involved and take control of their campus—our campus. Only by working together can students and teachers ensure the best possible education. Lest the administration forget, without faculty and students there is no institution of higher learning.

Failing grades were given to serious cases of media hostility and inaccessibility.

-Joe Fighera, Director of Food Services and College Bookstore A genuinely nice man, “Silent Joe” is an acute mediaphobe.

-Mia Celia McClellan, Dean, Student Services McClellan is SWC’s most hostile campus leader. Besides being completely uncooperative with student media, she is currently in violation of Calfornia law for ignoring a California Public Records Act request for documents.

-Arlie Ricasa, Director of EOPS Even before she was indicted for 34 felony and misdemeanor counts in the So. Bay Corruption Scandal, Ricasa was an anti-media clone of her mentor McClellan.

-Aaron Stark, Director of Student Development.

Friendly and cooperative when he was EOPS director, Starck seems upset that he was forced to supervise the ASO and takes it out on student reporters.

-Terri Valladolid, Governing Board Member Chopra-supporter Valladolid has gone underground and consistantly fails to respond to email or give interviews. Shameful for an elected official.

Sept. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013 Volume 57, Issue 2

ARTS

The Southwestern College Sun

> REVIEW

B1

‘Hairspray’ Re-energized drama department stages a stylish musical-dance treat Story by Kasey Thomas // Assistant News Editor Photos by Serina Duarte // Photo Editor

T

rue to its name, “Hairspray,” Southwestern College’s first musical in seven years, stuck. It was a beehive of fun, music and dance stacked high and proud.

John Waters’ musical traveled to the era of the mashed potato where the slogan “the higher the hair, the closer to God” was gospel.

A gleeful audience saw what many had only read about or heard in history class, the death throes of Jim Crow in the shadows of the Civil Rights Revolution.

“Hairspray” takes place in the “Swinging Sixties” at the height of Martin Luther King and JFK, where segregation was prevalent and appearance was paramount.

It chronicles the life of stout high school student Tracy Turnblad (a terrific Shelley Courchaine) and her dream of being on the Corny Collins Show. Turnblad and best friend Penny Pingleton (Alex King) audition, but she is turned down based on her weight and her too-liberal response to a question regarding racial integration.

Nevertheless, she bumps into teenage heartthrob Link Larkin (Israel Valdivia) whom she falls head over heels for and later convinces to help her integrate the show.

Courchaine seemed comfortable during musical numbers, but less so while acting.

Her powerhouse vocals, though, more than compensated. She was a sassy bombshell who supercharged every number she sang.

Valdivia struggled a bit with his lower range, but nailed the tenor parts. He had the charm required for the part of Link Larkin, something that can’t be taught.

Courchaine and Valdivia had strong chemistry, but Alex King as Pingleton and Kevin Burroughs as Seaweed were the power couple. Even with a knife near her face in the hands of Burroughs, King plays a young girl clearly in love.

While the leads were great, it was the muscular supporting cast that stole the show.

Sticking with Waters’ cross-dressing

tradition, Tracy’s mother was played by a male actor, as this case the formidable Mitchell Horne. His Mrs.Turnblad was earth, funny and cool. Miguel Ramirez, playing Wilbur Turnblad, worked well with Horne.

Lauren Martinez as villainous Velma von Tussle was the perfect choice. She was the right combination of snarky, prideful and just plain rude. Velma was easy to dislike, which means Martinez was spot on.

Director Katie Rodda skillfully guided her talented production team, which made the Mark O’Donnell-Thomas Meehan musical timely and relevant rather than a paunchy period piece.

Brilliant set designer Mike Buckley and his students created a series of colorful and retro rolling sets that brought a cheery and scintillating mood to each scenes. Sets were vivid and delightful, clever and enriching.

They were a black and white TV show in living color that framed the action like a worn Motorola with rabbit ear antennae.

Deborah Nevins’ orchestra was the backbone of the show, playing behind a sheer polk-a-dot curtain, present but not unobtrusive. This talented assortment of musicians could do soft, slow and sincere as well as flat out rock when it was time to dance.

Dance numbers choreographed by Dana Maue were stylish, energetic and true to the era. “You Can’t Stop the Beat” was so high energy it seemed the cast had drained the espresso machine. It left the audience exhausted. Group dance routines were exceptional.

Vocal music instructor Michelle TolvoChan had her singers on pitch and flawless throughout. Her background as a nationally-ranked show choir director was apparent as the singers were larger-thanlife, perfectly synched and presentational wonders.

“Nicest Kids in Town,” “You Can’t Stop the Beat” and “Run and Tell That” were the night’s best numbers. “Nicest Kids in Town” was a vivacious song with simple choreography that proved again that less

can be more. “You Can’t Stop the Beat” was the show’s grand finale and it was grand. “Run and Tell That” was a dance spectacle that set a great tone for the production.

Laughter was widespread throughout the night thanks to the antics on stage and one-liners like, “Where do you go after Special Ed?” Answer: “Congress.”

An uncredited bit by The Flasher nearly stole the show.

Southwestern College was known in the 1980s and ‘90s for its stunning musicals, and “Hairspray” was enough to make audience members wonder why there was a seven-year gap since the last one. In a community rich with musical talent, including national champion high school show choirs, marching bands and musical theatre, SWC has done its students a disservice by neglecting this uniquely American art form.

The cast and crew of the “Hairspray” did more than put on a great show they laid down a marker for the leadership of this college. Reinvest in the performing arts and the dividends will dazzle you.

Alex King (Penny) and Kevin Burroughs (Seaweed).

COME TOGETHER RIGHT NOW — Racial segregation and the Civil Rights Movement were undercurrents of the rollicking musical-comedy.

RETURN TO THE MAINSTAGE — “Hairspray” is a triumph for an under-funded SWC drama department that had not produced a full musical in seven years.

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Daphne Jauregui, editor

arts

Sept. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013 Volume 57, Issue 2

Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: arts@theswcsun.com

> REVIEW

Brilliant Polish ‘trio’ reignites the Renaissance

By Mason Masis Online Editor

M

aybe the five members of the Janusz Prusinowski Trio cannot count, but can they ever play music.

They can also, it seems, time travel without a Delorean.

Playing traditional music from their native Poland continuously for an hour, the ironically misnamed five-man trio was marvelous, bringing bouncy medieval music through time with the wisdom of Renaissance scholars and the passion of Preservation Hall.

Mazurek, a style descended from vocalists creating music from mechanical movements of dance, longs to be played in great halls or on verdant spring hillsides. It was evocative and transcendent.

Janusz Prusinowski enchanted listeners with his fiddle, entering the fray midway into the first piece with a solo that told a story with a voice like epic poets Homer or Virgil.

He also played the cymbaly,

a horizontal stringed instrument, by tapping the strings with hammers. Despite a percussive approach, the music was both vibrant and mellow.

Michał Żak and Szczepan Pospieszalski provided the wind support. Żak switched between the smooth and exotic sound of the shawm, a Renaissance woodwind instrument, and the free-flowing tone of his traditional flute. Pospieszalski captivated with the heroic flare of his trumpet, breaking through his counterparts call like dawn slaying the night.

Providing the foundation this column of magic was built upon was percussionist Piotr Piszczatowski and cellist Piotr Zgorzelski. Working perfectly in sync, they kept the rhythm in an unquellable sea of freedom and improvisation.

Zgorzelski demonstrated a walking dance that laid the basis for Polish music. When the entire ensemble joined in, the echoes of the Renaissance rattled through the audience.

A traditional marriage song played by the quintet began with stomping and singing, more akin to a Scandinavian pub than a wedding. It was celebration music that deserved to survive the ages.

Kujawiak, a style native to central Poland, stood out as a melodic antithesis to the grand Mazurek music played most of the night. Slower and more

structured than the other pieces, Zgorzelski and Piszczatowski quieted the performance as Prusinowski fiddled an ominous hymn. Interwoven with these dark gloomy yet curious waves of sound was Żak, feyly fifeing away, creating a light-hearted and hopeful melody.

Never short on stories, the band answered questions, explained the musical theories behind the music they played and shared the origins of some of their instruments.

Piszczatowski said he biked from village to village in Poland trying to find his famed drum, only to find that by buying it he had taken an annual tradition away from the town he bought it from. He returns every year to keep the villages’ traditions alive.

A cymbal used by the group was made from a German World War II tank, which has to be satisfying for any Polish percussionist. Zgorzelski’s antique cello was made by a village carpenter who, nearing death, realized he had spent a lifetime making furniture and wanted to leave a legacy behind.

Somewhere in Heaven the carpenter must be smiling. Thanks to the brilliant Prusinowski Trio, his legacy is assured.

Serina Duarte/staff

VERY POLISHED, ALL POLISH — Poland’s Janusz Prusinowski Trio had two friends sit in on a spell-binding concert. Szczepan Pospieszalska, Piotr Piszczatowski, Janusz Prusinowski, Piotr Zgorzelski, Michal Zak (l-r)

Professor masters art of recycling

John Freeman/staff

A WELL-OILED EXHIBIT — Southwestern College Professor of Art Perry Vasquez created art with recycled motor oil for an exhibition at the San Diego Historical Center in Balboa Park.

By Alyssa Pajarillo Staff Writer

Perry Vasquez has a degree from Stanford, is a prolific journalist, an advocate for immigrants’ rights and has had his art exhibited in a number of museums. Best of all, he insists, he still has his childhood sense of humor.

If he says he has completed an oil painting beware, he may have used motor oil.

In 2008, Vasquez began collecting comic book cut outs of super heroes to use in his oil painting parody of Auguste Rodin’s “Gates of Hell,” which he renamed the “Gates of Heck.” Vasquez substituted Rodin’s mythological figures with comic book characters.

Even Lucifer had to smirk.

“It seemed natural to have a post modern strategy with pop culture imagery and put them into a more classical context,” he said.

“It was my way of updating the images.”

Next he wrote a rock opera for the “Gates of Heck” that was performed at the San Diego Museum of Arts in August.

All the while he planned another project that he hoped would make him an oil baron

— and not an oil paint baron. His paintings exhibition at the San Diego Historical Society in Balboa Park were all created with used motor oil.

Vasquez said he had a beater car in college that was held together with paper clips and masking tape. One day, he had noticed a large puddle of oil beneath his car. Instead of worrying about how to repair the car on a student budget, Vasquez said he decided to bottle the remaining oil and use it as a medium.

“It taught me to think outside the box and think conceptually about art,” he said.

Another college experience led indirectly to his partnership with the gifted Chicano artist Victor Payan.

During the summer of 1981, Vasquez took an inpaid internship for Wet Magazine that he said helped him gain experience and get published.

“Seeing your byline in a newspaper for the first time is really exciting,” he said. “When it becomes nothing special, that is when you have really succeeded.”

At Stanford he became an editor of The Chaparral, the student newspaper. In the 100-year history of the Stanford Chaparral,

there have been few Latinos, making it easy for Payan — a former Chaparral editor — to recognize Vasquez.

“The Stanford Chaparral taught us an irreverence and understanding that humor is an important part of global issues and what is important,” said Payan.

Besides Stanford, the friends share a love of this region’s border culture. They collaborated on the Keep on Crossin’ Project in 2003 as a submission for a California design competition. Their design did not win, but was incorporated into a criticallyacclaimed patch.

A number of issues led to the birth of Keep on Crossin’. Besides immigration, the campaign was inspired by the North American Free Trade Agreement, a disaster for indigenous farmers and laborers in Mexico. Vasquez said people on both sides of the border were to going from full-time to indefinite part-time work, losing income, their right to organize and all benefits.

“There were things being taken away that we as Americans had taken for granted,” said Payan.

In 2006, Keep on Crossin’ was featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art and later purchased by the museum for its permanent collection for a national tour.

It is still generating interest and museum exhibitions 10 years later.

La frontera is an endless source of inspiration for artists like Vasquez and Payan.

“To be in San Diego and ignore the border would be like missing the best part of what the city has to offer,” said Vasquez. “It is like a mirror. Everybody who looks at the border sees themselves reflected back.”

Payan agreed.

“There has always been a love and fascination for the border and Tijuana,” he said. “You look at current films and it seems like we are entering another area of cultural exuberance, acceptance and joy that we had before the wall of the border came up. Projects like Keep on Crossin’ really capture that spirit.”

> PREVIEW

Music, fashion stroll on catwalk of creativity

By Romina Serrano Staff Writer

Beautiful clothes cannot shine without the proper musical accompaniment. A successful fashion show is based on design, sound and timing. An expression of art and a blending of the senses aim to create a setting and feeling for those watching.

Southwestern College’s Audio Engineering Society (AES) wants to showcase the works of promising San Diego County fashion and music artists. SWC’s first Rock Walk will be a collaborative event that fuses fashion and music, and encourages relationships between p e o p l e i n t h e re c o rd i n g a r t s .

AES focuses on audio technology and includes many students from SWC. It unites ar tists worldwide to promote advances in audio research and careers.

Daniel Cabeza de Baca, the studio manager and a recording engineer at SWC, heard about the AES organization and saw the potential and opportunities it had. “ It b r i n g s a l o t o f d i f f e r e n t p e o p l e t o g e t h e r, n o t j u s t students and engineers or people in studios, but also musicians, scientists, ar tists, people who run the equipment and who manufacture it all uniting,” he said.

Erick Domogma, an AES member and SWC student, agreed t o t h e b e n e f i t s o f t h e g ro u p.

“The AES is not just one vision, it is different people with

different backgrounds and that helps y o u s t re n g t h e n y o u r k n ow l e d g e and relationships,” he said. “It is like being part of a small family which gives you plenty of insight especially in audio engineering.”

AES is expanding its horizons to include more of San Diego’s prime go-to art colleges such as City College and the Fashion Institute o f D e s i g n a n d Me r c h a n d i s i n g .

Un l i k e t h e f l a s h y c o u t u r e - c l a d artists jumping around a runway surrounded by expressionless models, R o c k Wa l k p r o m i s e s t o b e a n evergetic event. All participants were connected through their shared art.

At the front of the classroom, a projector screened a fashion show that matches outfits with music genres of different performing artists, giving the performers an idea of how the show would be synched up.

AES Commissioner Antonio Econom led the auditions. Each artist performed two songs that showed their range and how their tones varied. Performing artists are going to be paired to specific designers according to what mood and style of music matched the clothing. “ T h i s e ve n t w i l l a l l ow t h e n e x t generation of artists and designers to express their creative ideas in a professional atmosphere,” said E c o n o m . “ Pa r t i c i p a n t s o f t h i s event are students who have bridged the gap between the ‘real world’ and the academic world.”

Rock Walk does not have a final date yet, but planners are shooting for December.

September 14 - October 18, 2013 — Volume 57, Issue 1

The Southwestern College Sun

CAMPUS

B3

Dream comes true for student veterans Long-sought Veterans Center officially opens to students on Nov. 5

By Daphne Jauregui Arts Editor

Student veterans finally have a place to call their own.

With the recent commisioning of the Veterans Resouce Center in Room 345, Southwestern College has a home for its heroes.

A grand opening ceremony was held to celebrate the centers’ opening, but the facility will not be open to students until November 5.

“Before I was even hired here, I was

aware that the student veterans wanted a resource center,” said SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish. “My concern was that I wanted a dedicated space that kept them in the middle of activity because I did not want to silo our veterans away.”

Nish said she believes veterans are a very important part of the student student body.

An opportunity that greatly contributed to the opening of the center emerged from what was once a major obstacle.

“When two deans retired we chose not to replace them and we reorganized the schools, actually creating fewer schools now, which freed up two school offices,” said Nish. “We looked at what was formerly the math and science,

engineering school office and said, ‘This is the perfect place.’ It was a happy consequence of downsizing.”

Jim Jones, SWC Veterans Service Specialist, said he was very excited about the center.

“It’s something that I have dreamt about for quite a long time,” he said.

“When I was a student here in 1995 there were talks about wanting to have a dedicated space for our veterans and back then we thought it was just a pipe dream.”

Jones said he felt grateful for the massive support on campus and the well-timed opening. SWC has had a sharp increase in veteran students and expects more as the wars in Iraq and MARSHALL MURPHY/STAFF Afghanistan continue to wind down.

STILL ON DUTY— Former SWC Governing Board Trustee Nick Aguilar (second from l) “I think it will ease the anxiety of joins the 82nd Airborne Division Association Color Guard to celebrate the opening of the new please see Veterans pg. B4

SWC Veterans Center.

Top award for SWC Latinas

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Memorial for popular chef still on back burner

By Georgina Carriola Staff Writer

KAYLA WOHLFORD/STAFF

COOKIN’ UP SMILES— Before his passing, Raul Haro was a friendly fixture at the cafeteria. An effort to create a fitting memorial has stalled.

The king is dead, long live the king!

Southwestern’s King of the Kitchen is gone, but not forgotten. At least not yet.

Friends of former SWC grilling legend Raul Haro are still pushing for a memorial for the cheerful chef who served the college for 24 years before his heartbreaking death from pancreatic cancer in April 2011.

Known as the “King of the Kitchen” by his coworkers and the students that came to know him, Haro was a much-loved fixture on the campus. A memorial in his honor was discussed during a governing board meeting in January 2012, but the effort has been stalled.

Haro’s friends, however, are pushing on.

Josie Kane, a long-time coworker, said she treasured working with Haro.

“He was always very friendly,” she said.

“He was a good cook, I know that. He always had a big smile. And he wore one of those big top chef hats, the big ones! In the end I would love to see, ‘Raul’s Grill.’ with a picture of him with his big tall chef hat and that smile.”

Although the memorial has lost traction, some of Haro’s friends have set up their own.

“We have his little memorial card from his funeral,” Kane said. “It sits on top of

the Grab & Go, but unless you’re looking up at the Grab & Go, you’d totally miss it.”

Lack of progress on the Haro memorial is disappointing, Kane said, but it may have been forgotten because of other pressing issues.

Yleanna Fierro, a student services assistant at Disabled Student Services, said she is a Haro fan. Fierro said she admired his ability to listen to his customers, and keep a positive attitude. She called him a person of “service and optimism.”

“People came to his food station and he would greet them by name,” she said. “He listened to their problems and that always helps when you’re upset. He would ask them what they wanted to eat and he would make it as he listened to them. He was just a happy person and always made jokes.”

Fierro said she was told that when the café was remodeled, a memorial to Haro would be installed. She said she is disappointed that has not yet happened.

Haro’s son, Raul Haro Jr., attends SWC and he said he asks on occasion about his father’s memorial. Haro Jr. said he received an email from the administrative secretary from instructional support services, Thelma Corrao, detailing the process of his father’s memorial.

“I was told that there would be a plaque and also that they were going to name the grill after him,” said Haro Jr. “I was told

about the idea and asked what I wanted the grill to be named.”

He was told it would be completed in a month. That was about 11 months ago, he said.

“The last thing I was told was that they were waiting for an art teacher to do it,” said Haro Jr. “Right now the only thing they have is a picture from his viewing. I find it disrespectful because it’s just on top of the Grab & Go.” Larry Lambert, online instructional support specialist, has been working on the plan alongside Corrao.

“Both of us were heading the project to get this memorial done and we wanted to do it quickly,” Lambert said. “But it’s been 20 months.”

He said the plaque needs to be ordered and the text printed on it as well as have an artist do a painting above the grill.

“It was a real scramble to get commitment out of the people to get this done,” said Lambert. “Then Thelma went on medical leave for a while.”

Lambert said plans are back on track and the memorial will be finished by the end of December. A ceremony celebrating Haro is part of the plan.

“We need to make sure people treat this with the importance that is due,” Lambert said. “This is a memorial for someone who is not around anymore.”

Every year the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) honors seven outstanding educators from across the nation. This year two of them are from Southwestern College.

Dr. Sylvia Garcia-Navarrete received the Outstanding Latino(a) Faculty in Higher Education Award and Governing Board Member Norma Hernandez was presented the Alfredo G. de los Santos Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education Award.

Both women we re h o n o re d at the AAHHE convention in San Antonio, Texas.

G a r c i a Navarrete was recognized for her innovative work developing critical thinking HERNANDEZ curriculum for English learners. Our Reading Toolbox has been emulated across America and Garcia-Navarrete has traveled the nation sharing its secrets.

She began her journey at SWC as a student worker in 1983 and earned an AA while working as a classified employee. After earning a BA and a Master’s at San Diego State University, she became a full-time tenure-track assistant professor. She later earned her doctoral degree in educational leadership from SDSU. She has twice been named SWC’s outstanding adjunct instructor and is a two-time National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) teaching medalist.

Garcia-Navarrete said she is the only one out of her eight siblings to earn a college education, and was actively discouraged from going to college.

As a child she was a challenged student and people in her southeast San Diego neighborhood GARCIApredicted NAVARRETE she would be “barefoot, pregnant and on welfare,” she said. She proved them wrong.

Dr. Joel Levine, dean of School of Language and Literature, said Garcia-Navarrete runs her c l a s s ro o m s i n a d i f f e re n t w a y.

“She sets new heights to help students realize their potential,” he said. “If you see her classes you’d realize that her students are becoming incredibly aware of the abilities they have that they may not have realized they have. She shows them how well they can think and how well they can express their thoughts about what they understand.”

Hernandez was an idealistic community activist when she started at SWC in 1975. She served as MEChA advisor, developed career counseling services, and established the first Career Center please see AAHHE pg. B5

B4

Amanda L. Abad and Joaquin Basauri, co-editors

Campus

Sept. 14 - Oct. 14, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 1

Tel: (619) 482-6368 E-mail: campus@theswcsun.com

Friendly cleaning crew wins over campus community

By Victoria Leyva Staff Writer

Four hard-working custodial assistants have discovered something that Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote long ago.

“Some pursue happiness — others create it.”

Southwestern College’s Fab Four happily clean 35 restrooms every day and spread a little joy along the way. Group members push past their own personal adversity to contribute to the college by helping to keep it clean.

Partnerships With Industry (PWI) fields a team that consists of Denise Levy and four individuals who are identified as having developmental disabilities such as autism, brain injury, cerebral palsy and Down Syndrome.

These cleaners cheerfully greet students and faculty every day, and have found the campus to be a safe haven.

These four people were placed in their jobs through the non-profit organization PWI, which was established in 1985. Job candidates are referred through the San Diego Regional Center and the California Department of Rehabilitation. This program’s purpose is to help individuals with developmental disabilities find employment and increase their financial independence as well as self-confidence.

PWI Support Employment Manager Sonia Vasquez coordinates teams of PWI employees throughout San Diego. ” We provide vocational services and our goal is to employ clients with disabilities in the community,” she said.

PWI workers become contributors to society while many others with the same dis-

abilities have difficulty finding work, Vasquez said. Only 14.1 percent of adults with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to work in the United States. Those employed through organizations like PWI realize how coveted their jobs are and consistently work hard to hold onto their positions.

“People are amazed at the abilities of our clients and how much they contribute,” said Vasquez. “A lot of employers actually wish that their regular employees have the abilities our clients have. Their punctuality, attendance and commitment is always there.”

Members of the PWI group all said they love their jobs. Typically wearing her straw sun hat and glasses, Janice Brooks is very warm and kind to any person who walks by. She is outgoing and can be heard talking cheerfully to her co-workers as they busily walk around campus. “ I love it here, it’s beautiful,” said Brooks.

“Nice community. Nice and clean and safe.”

Another member of the group is Scott Michael Ruskin. He is often seen with a baseball cap he was given for being a volunteer with the Chula Vista Fire Department. His piercing blue eyes light up when he speaks to staff and students and he loves talking about the SWC football team. At first some students are thrown off by his outgoing cheerfulness, but most talk with him and treat him kindly.

Ruskin is not shy to vocalize how much he has grown to love SWC during his 13 years working on campus.

“It’s better to be here than somewhere else and Vincent Tejerion is please see Custodial pg. B5

Karen Tome/Staff

CLEANUP HITTERS— (clockwise from top l) Scott Michael Ruskin, Janice Brooks, Alexis Oliva and Elias Hernandez are SWC custodial assistants. They say they enjoy cleaning 35 bathrooms every day. The Fab Four has earned the respect of the campus community for their hard work, reliability and friendliness.

SVO: New veterans center was many years in the making

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the transition because when a veteran checks in at our campus they have more needs than just getting enrolled in class,” he said. “It’s critical to have that balance and that support that they need to meet their non-traditional student status. It’s very important that we meet those needs so that they can succesfully transition into collegiate life and hopefully become a more productive citizen.”

Nish said that this will help accomodate a larger number of incoming veterans.

“Our goal is that they succeed with their studies and that they succeed in getting the job that they want based on those studies,” she said. “I think that this will be critical for their success.”

Some of the ser vices include resume writing, interviewing skills, tutoring and Veteran’s Affairs benefit information, said Jones.

“We’re going to try and bring a VA representative here on campus and have a scheduled appointed time so that students can come and meet with a counselor so that they can teach the veterans all the benefits that they have earned,” he said.

Tim Walsh, president of the Student Veteran Organization, agreed.

“The dedication of the Veterans Re s o u rc e C e n t e r re p re s e n t s a n important milestone for the student veterans of SWC and SWC leadership,” said Walsh. “This facility is the brick and mortar embodiment of how commited SWC leadership is to the student veteran.”

Walsh said both personal and professional conections are vital to the success of student veterans.

“SWC has taken a giant step forward in directly addressing the major challenges affecting transitioning military veterans,” he said. “Those challenges are mitigated through deliberate orientation to campus life, academic support, proactive networking activities, and formal counseling opportunities.”

Je n n y Ju n t i l l a , s e c re t a r y a n d treasurer of the SVO, said she believes the resource center will be a great asset for SWC. “It’s going to be very helpful for all of the veterans coming in that are just now stepping back into the civilian world,” she said. “I definitely feel that I will be coming here with my daughter. With this place being open, it’s going to make it easier for me to bring my child with me if I have to do homework or study. I feel that it is going to be very helpful.”

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The Southwestern College Sun

Campus

Sept. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 1

B5

Water: Engineering marvels of biblical proportions Continued from Page B3

second and Seabiscuit third. First place in creativity was awarded to Silver Surfers, second place went

to the American Medical Students Association, and the Rick Engineering Company earned third place.

Charles said everyone seemed excited to be back again for another competition next year.

“After talking with the competitors, they have the desire and they want to come back next year,” she said. “They didn’t realize how difficult it was, but it sparked an interest in them because now they want to win next year.”

Teams that competed this year were The Silver Surfers of San Diego City College, Seabiscuit from the Mesa College Engineering Club, Las Angilas and BattleSHPE from Southwestern College’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, The Racketeers from La Jolla High School, Rick Engineering Company and the American Medical Students Association of San Diego.

Amanda L. Abad/Staff

ALL CATS GO TO HEAVEN— Lions, Tigers and Bears founder Bobbi Brink and Raja, the Bengal tiger who recently passed away.

Sanctuary: Alpine shelter gives animals a second chance Continued from Page B8

A handful of volunteers and the Brinks take care of the day-to-day necessities for the animals. Larry Lambert, online instructional support specialist from Southwestern College, said he and his wife are avid animal supporters. They saw an advertisement for the LTB sanctuary, he said, and all it took was one visit to capture their hearts.

“I volunteered for two years and took some time off,” said Lambert. “I plan to go back this summer and work on the sanctuary grounds and with the animals this time. I want to be more hands-on and my schedule will be more flexible then.

I was primarily outside of the sanctuary doing support work such as fundraising and getting supplies they needed from our college employees and community members. We have been to the sanctuary many times and support LTB with monthly donations.”

Many exotic animals that are kept as pets suffer from malnutrition, poor physical fitness, stress and psychological dysfunction. Deformations from cramped living quarters, surgeries gone wrong and injuries that never healed properly are also a common factor in housing exotic animals.

“It’s been estimated that there are 900 to 2,000 new cases every year of animal hoarding in the U.S., with a quarter of a million animals falling victim,” according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“While it is impossible to precisely determine the number of wild animals in private hands in the United States, most accurate estimates include: 5,000 to 7,000 tigers, 10,000 to 20,000 large cats, 17.3 million birds, 8.8 million reptiles, and at least 3,000 nonhuman great apes,” according to the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition. “It is estimated that 90 percent of wild animals kept as pets are dead within the first two years of captivity.”

California is one of the 14 states that ban most dangerous captive wildlife, including big cats, bears, wolves, primates and some reptiles.

“Animals, especially the exotic ones they shelter, are abused and exploited all the time, too much by humans who have them as designer pets or fighting animals,” said Lambert. “The group at LTB is especially vulnerable as its press shows. (Animals there) need to have the same scope of care as humans do, in my opinion.”

Lambert said he has a special affinity for Tigers.

“I follow the Buddhist path and tigers are spiritual and totem-like animals for those of us who adopt them,” he said.

“I cannot stand by and by simply watch without helping.”

Brink works to help promote legislation to stop endangering the lives of animals.

She travels the nation to conduct health check-ups, match animals to sanctuaries and assist with transportation.

LTB recently lost its 17-year-old Bengal tiger, Raja, due to kidney disease. Raja and his mate Natasha were the very first rescues at the sanctuary. In July, Raja and Natasha lost their 11-year-old daughter, Sitarra, because her spinal cord had been severed due to pieces of a ruptured disc.

Lambert said when he first came to LTB he took a picture of Raja. He recalled the majestic tiger as calm, noble and in charge.

“I moved a foot closer to his cage and without warning or any indication from his mannerisms, he leaped and rushed the cage towards me,” he said. “In a blink of an eye he was skidding to stop, growling and snarling at the cage looking right at me. He stopped at the wire, looked at me for a moment and then returned to his calm state and walked off, like it never happened. The message he conveyed was crystal clear, and I have never forgotten that moment and never will. I have had contact with other exotic animals…and the message was a concentrated sameness.

They were the alpha of wherever they were. No anger, just total connectedness to everything around them, fantastically aware.”

Lambert said he was taught that animals treat death differently than humans and they do not fear death or interpret it to be an end to their souls. When Raja and Sitarra passed he said he was very emotional, but for his loss, not theirs.

“I was terribly sad, mostly because they were not there for those of us who love them to visit and gain empowerment by their presence,” he said. “I was happy for them to go to a place where pain doesn’t exist anymore. The time between when they leave their humans and see them again after death is only a blink of an eye for them, but much too long for us. I know I will see them again. They were an intimate inspiration for our Southern California people because they embodied the strength and spirit of power and unconditional connection with their environment.”

Donations and volunteer hours are two ways people can help LTB. Brink also encouraged people to write to U.S. Senators about passing legislation like the Captive Primate Safety Act, which prohibits interstate commerce in monkeys, apes and other primates in the exotic pet trade.

Brink also supports the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act, “which would prohibit the illegal trade of wildlife species and the private ownership or sale of exotic animals,” according to the LTB website.

Lambert said people who want to help LTB should go to the website and be sure to read the information about volunteering.

“It is not just showing up and getting to do what you would like to do which is work with the animals, too dangerous,” he said. “LTB mostly needs funds and if someone wants to really help then do both, volunteer their time and participate in the events they put on. Word of mouth goes a long way. Be an ambassador for the animals and LTB. Talk to groups and organizations, make them aware just how much need there is to help these animals, not only exotic ones, but domestic animals as well. Contact LTB and ask what they need and fill it.”

Custodial: Friendly workers popular campus fixtures Continued from Page B4

nice, and I really like being here,” said Ruskin. “You guys are cool here. It feels good to work here. The football team is here. The Jaguars are here. I grew up here.”

Both Ruskin and Brooks are outgoing and quick to interact with students and staff while Alexis Oliva and Elias Hernandez prefer to hang back a bit. Once students get to know the petite Oliva, however, she warms up and will flash a demure smile.

To these four members of our campus working at beautiful SWC is a job and a blessing. Our custodial colleagues have grown into a blessing to our campus community.

AAHHE: Hernandez, Garcia-Navarrete win national honors Continued from Page B3

and Transfer Center at SWC. She also implemented a Summer Readiness Program for high-risk groups entering high school.

Hernandez rose through the ranks and served as dean of student services, vice-president for student affairs, and then president. She is considered by many to be one of SWC’s best presidents. In 2010 she was elected to serve on the SWC Governing Board, and played a leadership role in ending the culture of corruption and restoring the college’s credibility following the disastrous reign of former superintendent Raj Kumar Chopra.

Gove r n i n g B o a rd Pre s i d e n t Humberto Peraza said Hernandez “absolutely deserves this award.”

“She has been a champion for education for a long time,” he said. “I am very proud of the work she’s done in the community. She is somebody who I look up to and has been a mentor of mine on the governing board.”

Hernandez said she enjoyed the convention in San Antonio.

“The experience at AAHHE’s Awards Ceremony was very meaningful because it reaffirmed the importance of finding one’s niche and passion in life,” she said. “For me, it has been Southwestern College and working alongside so many outstanding faculty, staff, administrators and community members to provide the best education that our students deserve.”

Founding President of AAHHE Loui Olivas said Hernandez and Garcia-Navarrete met the highest qualifications for each award.

“They both received awards because they have done outstanding work in the Hispanic community for the past decade,” he said. “Both were recognized as stellar leaders.”

B6

The Southwestern College Sun

SPORTS

September 14 - October 18, 2013 — Volume 57 Issue 2

Jags shine in fast company

The

Give Go and

DANIEL GUZMAN

Cerebral Palsy cannot diminish love for sports

G

Photos by serina duarte

A FAST START— (above) Southwestern College cross-country runner Sierra Echols jumps to an early lead in the women’s race at the Stanford invitational. She would eventually finish 63rd overall in a field of mostly university students. (l) George Martinez kept pace with runners from prestigious universities.

By Madeline Cabrera and Zayda Cavazos Staff Writers

Southwestern College’s men’s crosscountry team finished 10th out of 26 in a meet featuring many of the west’s best university programs.

Head coach Dr. Duro Agbede said the Jaguars were the big winners.

“My purpose is to expose these athletes to the top universities because our main focus is to transfer,” said Agbede, SWC’s Zen master of transfer and scholarships.

Agbede is used to finishing first, but he said 10th was excellent considering SWC was up against elite university programs from Utah, Oregon State, Chico, Santa Clarita, U.C. Davis and others.

Freshman Steven Lepe led the men in 37th place overall. Miguel Lopez

grabbed 44th and George Martinez 53rd.

Sierra Echols led the women at 63rd and Samantha Bojorquez crossed the line 69th.

Freshmen Lepe and Martinez have been leading the men with impressive performances in previous races.

“The weight of the team is going to fall squarely on the shoulders of these two,” said Agbede.

SWC’s wily coach also entered his teams in the U.C. Riverside Invitational where the Jaguar men placed 16th among 34 of the top NCAA Division One universities.

Martinez and Lepe have been contacted by U.C. Santa Barbara and U.C. Riverside, said Agbede. Lopez, another standout, will transfer to Berkeley this spring.

Rio Hondo Invitational At the season opener, the men dominated by winning the top four spots. Lepe and Martinez took first and second place in a photo finish with the same running time of 20:08 in a four-mile race. Daniel Vazquez and Lopez were neck and neck for third and fourth, respectively, with a time of 20:32.

Sierra Echols placed 16th in the women’s meet in 20:48 and Kassandra Covarribas was 18th at 20:58.

After the great start and a strong team of eight, the women now are down to three runners with one out due to injury.

Agbede said the remaining women will focus on earning scholarships.

SWC’s men, however, are still the championship hunt. Agbede said they need Vasquez to get healthy. Vazquez is suffering from shin splints that have kept him out since the second week of the season.

“I’ll be able to race this next week,” said Vazquez.

Despite the injuries, the Jags should not be overlooked, said Lepe.

“As of right now, we still think we can [win the State Championship] as long as we get healthy...we can still have a great chance of winning it.”

SWC men are taking on water

Waterpolo team struggling after 2012’s sensational season

By Joaquin Basauri Campus Co-Editor

Coming off of their most successful season ever, the men’s water polo team felt like it was riding a wave. This season, however, has been a complete wipeout.

With a record of 4-13, the Jaguars are assured a losing season and a return to a past marred by perpetual underachievement.

“Last year we went 14-12, which was the first time SWC has ever had a winning record,” said head coach Jorge Ortega. “We would love to build on that, but you just don’t get the same guys back. The reality of the situation is that we’ll probably only get three guys back next season.”

SWC has had a soggy season despite having Nick Howard, the state’s number one player.

A freshman, Howard has flourished under his former high school coach. He and sophomore Justin Patacsil have combined for 121 goals, the most dangerous strike partnership in the California.

“Nick and I normally play the entire game in utility positions,” said Patascil. “It gives us the opportunity to move around and set each other up. We’ve developed a pretty good chemistry.”

Howard agreed.

“I had never played with Justin before, just against him,” said Howard. “But we ended up meshing together well. We complement each other.”

As the pair continue to overachieve, the rest of the team has relied on them for all their scoring, making the Jags easy to defend.

“The gap between our second and third top scorers is ridiculous,” said Ortega. “We need more guys to step up and take shots,

Victor ene/Staff

BACKS TO THE WALL— Nick Howard and the Jaguars (4-13) find themselves in the all too familiar position of defending goalie Rhett Pitcock. Both players are statistically leaders on offense and defense, but SWC is struggling overall.

even if they miss. Our most successful games are those that everyone gets involved in.”

SWC is currently tied with Palomar College for third place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, at two wins each.

SWC, however, only has one PCAC match left, Palomar has three.

“Conference play has been a problem because we have only 12 players,” said Ortega. “Especially when five of the seven starters don’t come out of the game. We play three solid quarters and put ourselves in good positions to win, but have a tough time in the fourth quarter. It’s hard to ask any of these guys to play an entire game without rest.”

Redemption, though, is not out of reach

just yet. The PCAC tournament takes place November 8-9 at Miramar College. Due to the small size of the conference and the short amount of time in between matches for all the teams, it is possible for the Jags to pull off an upset and progress onto the State Tournament.

Essential to success in the tournament will be sophomore goalie Rhett Pitcock, currently second in the state for saves.

Despite his heroics in goal, the Jags have allowed 245 goals, more than any other team in the state.

“I think those stats just show how hard I’m trying,” said Pitcock. “But the team as a whole needs to care more about the goalie. Far too often I end up alone and

outnumbered.”

Pitcock continues to work at improving.

“I have put in a lot more training to prepare myself for this season, especially into strengthening my legs,” he said. “So far I think I’ve seen the dividends of that hard work despite our record.”

Pitcock said the team has upside, especially if Ortega can convince his freshman to return next year.

“The team is in good hands next season with players like Nick coming back,” he said.

“The guys will have been playing together longer and have developed more chemistry.

And a team with seven sophomores will always be better than a team with seven freshman.”

rowing up with Cerebral Palsy was difficult, especially for a kid who really wanted to be an athlete. Sitting in my wheelchair under Friday night lights while my friends played out our childhood dreams was four quarters of torture. Smelling the fragrant emerald grass of the spring diamond without throwing some inside heat was a cruel tease. I was hard to sit and watch.

If absence makes the heart grew fonder, my heart swelled with passion for sports.

I fell in love with every game. My love of sports was childlike at first, puppy love in a kennel of barking dogs. Maturity brought an aesthetic, however, that allowed me a great appreciation for the artistry and creativity of physical expression. Baseball is ballet, football is elegant and boxing is the sweet science. Soccer is, indeed, the Beautiful Game.

Finally, on one undefined day, it felt okay to just sit back and watch. Sports is performing art. Sports is visual art. What music could be more melodic than Vin Scully poetically describing a Dodgers game? What sculpture was more stylish than Diego Maradona chistling his way through the entire English side? What French meal more fragrant than the hotdog stand at Petco Park?

Although I cannot swing for the fences, I can marvel in the skill and recognize the greatness of the big, buff guys who launch drives out of major league stadiums. I watch in wonderment as men the size of cattle with the speed of leopards slide through holes made by moveable mountains of manhood to score touchdowns. I hold my breath as men with endless wingspans fly over the hardwood toward the nets.

As a kid I had the beautifully unoriginal fantasy of making the final shot in the fleeting seconds of the championship games, looping the film in my active mind because trying it was not an option.

If I could have played sports I think soccer, boxing and baseball would have been my favorites. In my imagination I do not need to be an athletic specimen, a Bo Jackson superman who could do anything better than mere mortals. But I am sure that with some practice on those cooling evenings as the sprinklers chattered across nearby fields I could learn to take a curveball to right field, rocket the ball back post from a cross and counter a right hook with a punishing haymaker to the chin.

College further inspired my love of athletics. Through exploration came enlightenment. I discovering other ways to participate in the games I love. Cerebral palsy is supposed to be a detriment to the mind and motor skills. I caught a break.

Only my motor is a lemon. My mind is as good as the mind of Albert Pujols, Manny Paquiao, Peyton Manning, Usain Bolt, LeBron James or Leonel Messi. Maybe better.

Shakespeare wrote, “All things are ready, if our mind be so.”

So while the big guys are flipping tires to prepare for the next football season, and the tall guys are ramming home missing shots and the lithe guys are running down fly balls on Coach Jerry Bartow’s sanctuary of verdant American paradise, I am also in training at Southwestern College. I am training my mind to be an All-Star, All-American, All-League, Pro Bowl sports writer. Fair warning, the other folks in the ring better be on their toes because I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. I can hit a 3-2 slider over the Green Monster. I can outrun the entire secondary on a screen pass.

I am getting my mind ready so that all things are ready. Like the Colt .45 in the Old West, education in the 21st century is the Great Equalizer. My playing field is level and all things are possible. Someday I will also be a recognizable name in the sports pages, whether they are on paper or electronic, alongside the Pujols, Manning, James and Messi of the next sports era. I am getting ready so I can play, too.

The Give & Go can be reached at TheGiveandGo@theswcsun.com.

SPORTS

The Southwestern College Sun

Sept. 14 - Oct. 18, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 2

B7

Photos by John Domogma

SWC LEVELS MESA — The Jaguars ran their season record to 5-1 with a 35-0 win over Mesa College at press time. (clockwise from above) Jaguar running back Junior Nemorin rips off a big gain. DB Vicente Stafford stops a Mesa running back. Alfonzo Hamilton with a quarterback sack.

“We have finally broken all the

shackles. We’ve beaten Mesa, Grossmont and Palomar.”

Ed Carberry, Head Football Coach

Jags Dust Comets SWC

SWC earns first victory over Palomar since 1988, roar into top spot in American Mountain Conference

131 106

By Colin Grylls Assistant Sports Editor

D

uring his seven years as head coach, Ed Carberry’s football program has never beaten Palomar College.

In fact, the Jaguars have never beaten the Comets.

Southwestern College’s last victory against its rivals was back in 1988, when SWC’s nickname was still the Apaches.

“It took seven years, but we got ‘em!” Carberry hollered on the phone to his mother after a satisfying 31-28 victory.

Mrs. Carberry missed a thriller. SWC grabbed a quick 14-0 lead thanks to its passing game.

Quarterback Frank Foster connected with receiver Cameron Lee for a 36-yard touchdown pass and receiver Rashad Ridley made a brilliant diving catch in the end zone. Southwestern’s defense stifled the Comets, holding them to minus-four yards and forcing two turnovers in the first quarter.

The home crowd was going wild, but SWC could not sustain the torrid pace. With the Jags threatening again, things unraveled. A holding penalty negated a first down and on the next play Palomar defender Javante O’Roy returned an interception 85 yards for a touchdown. The teams traded a pair of touchdowns to give the Jags a 21-14 halftime lead.

Third quarter bumbles silenced the crowd and had many wondering if the Palomar Curse was inviolable. A Foster fumble and a third down

pass interference penalty allowed Palomar to tie the game 21-21.

After a field goal gave SWC a 24-21 fourth quarter lead, the Jags faced a fourth and one on Palomar’s 32-yardline, too close to punt yet too far to kick a field goal. Running back Devonte London got the ball but was stuffed at the line.

Momentum swung to the Comets.

Palomar took a page out of the Jags’ playbook and ran the ball down the field. A facemask penalty gave the Comets a first and goal inside the five-yard line. With a little over 10 minutes left Palomar took its first lead of the game, 28-24.

Momentum changed again, however, when SWC linebacker Khaalid Abdullah pulled off his helmet near the sidelines.

“Let’s win the f***ng game!” he shrieked as the offense took the field.

Abdullah’s emotional admonishment woke up the somnolent offense.

After a 16-yard pass to receiver DeSean Waters to start the drive, SWC ran 49 yards on five plays to take a 31-28 lead. Junior Nemorin – all of 5’8” and 185 lbs. – dropped his shoulder to send a Palomar defender flying backwards on an eightyard run. His pivotal play helped set up Foster’s 15-yard touchdown run.

“We were running it up the middle and they were ready to bite,” Foster said while grinning ear to ear. “They all bit (on the fake) and I just took it up the sideline.”

With eight minutes left, the Comets were not done. When Palomar running back Justin Harris ran the ball 24 yards to the SWC 40-

Mason Masis, Nicholas Baltz and Colin Grylls/Staff

yard line, it looked like a score was inevitable.

Then the defense dug in. On third and 10 Palomar QB Ryan Lamb rolled left to escape pressure and threw the ball up for grabs.

Jaguars defensive back Marcus Harris grabbed it for his second interception of the game.

Harris, normally a wide receiver, looked at home in the secondary. He had a 51-yard touchdown reception the previous week against L.A. Valley.

He was a last-minute replacement for a bangedup secondary.

“I came out nervous (on defense) coming out after playing receiver all week, but I played DB last year so I felt like I was going to come out here and ball,” said Harris. “I consider myself an athlete. I can go out there and run routes, or go out there and guard you, too.”

SWC ran the ball downfield and burned nearly five minutes off of the clock. A failed fourth down, however, gave the Comets a shot to win with 1:58 left in the game.

As Palomar set up a two-minute offense, Abdullah and the defense decided their time was up. SWC’s defensive line wreaked havoc on the drive. Tackle Alfonzo Hampton blocked a pass at the line and pressure by fellow tackles Rick Loewen and Darrein Booker forced an incomplete pass. Defensive end Jalal Yousofai followed with a quarterback sack, pushing Palomar out of field goal range. On fourth and 17, Yousofai hit the quarterback as he slung a desperation heave, clinching the victory. SWC is now 3-1 on the season, not to mention 1-0 against Palomar this year.

SWC is the Clint Eastwood team of the Mountain Conference, good, bad and sometimes ugly. The Jaguars have the seventh best rushing attack in the state (250.8 yards per game), but miscues still plague both sides of the ball.

Southwestern is the fourth most penalized team in the state, averaging almost 14 flags per game.

They also average two turnovers per game.

Even so, SWC won by 21 points against San Bernardino despite racking up 16 penalties for 142 yards. Penalties that hurt the most were those that extended opponents’ drives or cut short SWC drives. Turnovers that give their opponents a short field are the killers. In the loss to Los Angeles Valley an interception set up a Monarchs touchdown, a bad snap cost SWC a field goal, a penalty pushed them off the one-yard line on fourth and goal, and another penalty nullified a successful onside kick recovery in the final two minutes. Turnovers and penalties also nearly cost the Jags the Palomar game.

SWC outgained Palomar by 288 yards. Foster passed for 317 yards and three touchdowns.

Running back Cedric Agyeman rushed for 131 yards. DeSean Waters had 146 receiving yards and the defense forced four turnovers. Three turnovers and 13 penalties by the Jags kept Palomar in the game, but that was the last thing on Carberry’s mind.

“We have finally broken all of the shackles,” he said. “We’ve beaten Mesa, Grossmont and Palomar.”

Carberry has his mother on speed dial just in case he has more good news.

B8

Oct. 19. - Nov. 24, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 3

BACKPAGE

The Southwestern College Sun

John Domogma/Staff

Winning Big in

Fast Company

By John Domogma Assistant Sports Editor

Serina Duerte/Staff

SCORING POINTS— (above) George Martinez captured 23rd place to help add to SWC’s tally.

FRESNO–Top five, worth the drive.

Daniel Vazquez and Carlos Sibaja got up off the ground following a nasty spill to score crucial points that helped lead a hungry men’s cross country team to a fifth place finish in the California State Championships.

Steven Lepe led all Southwestern College runners by grabbing 11th place in 203-man field and Miguel Lopez was 12 th. Lepe and Lopez both earned All-American honors.

“We beat exactly who we came here to beat,” said head coach Dr. Duro Agbede. “My goal today was to place in the top five and we had to go against a lot of strong teams.”

Agbede’s main target was archrival San Diego City College, which beat SWC at the regionals. Agbede has a friendly but fierce rivalry with Mesa coach Paul Greer.

Vazquez and Sibaja were tripped and fell barely 100 meters into the race. They had to stay down for a few precious seconds so as to not be badly injured in the stampede of runners.

“Two of our runners went down

Colin Grylls/Staff

By Colin Grylls Assistant Sports Editor

Life on Earth was supposed to be annihilated in 2012, but SWC football players are ecstatic that Armageddon has been delayed long enough to play the 2013 season. It was the Jaguars who did the annihilating this year, romping to a 9-2 record and a smashing 34-23 Patriotic Bowl win over San Bernardino Valley College.

“It was an incredible success,” said coach Ed Carberry. “The biggest success will be figured out when we see how many guys transfer to universities.

That will be the ultimate success of this team, but it’s the winningest sophomore class in the history of the school. It is the first time in the history of the school that we’ve won back-to-back bowl games, so we’re certainly going to celebrate all of that.”

Carberry’s super sophomores end their community college careers with an 18-3 record, a mark matched by only three of the other 69 football programs in the California Community College Athletic Association over the last two years.

Linebackers Khaalid Abdullah and Jeremy Burgos started both seasons.

“We’re done here,” said Burgos, his Chicago accent making it difficult to picture him anywhere but behind the wheel of the Bluesmobile. “From what last year told us and this year, me and him are probably one of the best combos to ever play here.”

Abdullah, the Joliet Jake to Burgos’s Elwood, was named Defensive Player of the Game.

“I was hoping to get it, that’s what I was working for,” he said. “I mean, I wasn’t actively working for it, but just play as hard as you can and good things will come to you, and that’s what I did, just bust my ass every single play. Go hard, 100 percent every time.”

Abdullah certainly had his work cut out for him.

San Bernardino Valley quarterback Collin Willis earned the Offensive Player of the Game award behind a 263-yard, two touchdown performance.

Despite Willis’s individual success, the Wolverines conference-best offense was held 13 points below

and they had to get up and start again,” said Agbede. “It was brutal because they had bruises all over their legs.”

Sibaja rebounded to finished 85th.

Vazquez finished 123rd.

“Today I expected to break 21 minutes in four miles,” said Sibaja, “but there was a pile-up and I got tripped from behind and fell down, hard. I started from 120th and tried to catch up, but it was too late for that. My time was 21:45.”

Despite scraped knees and bruises, Vasquez was upbeat.

“The fall did affect us, it was very competitive,” he said. “A lot of people train a whole season to get our time, so I gained from that comeback.”

Lepe took Agbede’s advice to heart, not playing the hare but also no one’s tortoise.

“I was mainly with the two Mesa guys that coach wanted me to be with,” he said. “He didn’t want me to lead the pack and be a bunny, so I stuck with them.”

Lepe finished in the lead pack.

“We basically gave it all we had,” he said. “I feel proud of

their conference-leading 36.1 points per game. “[The Jags] are a fast team,” Willis said. “I think we had a difficult time blocking them because their speed was throwing us off. But they’re a great team.

I want to beat them. I haven’t beaten ‘em yet. I give credit to their defense, they work hard for it.

Congratulations to them.”

SWC had pulled away early, taking a 14-3 lead into the half. Penalties and mistakes, however, let SBVC creep back within three at 20-17 score in the fourth quarter. Both of Willis’s touchdown runs followed pass interference penalties, one of which negated a Kiman Edwards interception.

In fact, there was as much yellow on the field as a farmer’s market banana display. The teams had 32 combined penalties for 301 yards, constantly interrupting the flow of the game, according to Burgos and his fellow Soul Man Abdullah.

“You lose momentum right away,” said Burgos.

“You get an interception, you get the ball back to your offense and then a flag comes and you’re thinking in your head ‘are you kidding me?’ We were just right off the field, we see the flag…”

“It’s pretty demoralizing,” Abdullah chimed in.

Burgos and Abdullah make quite the pair. Their chemistry, along with defensive tackle Alfonso Hampton’s mentality, are big reasons why the Jags finished the year with one of California’s top 10 defenses in points allowed per game, yards allowed per game and sacks.

“I feel like I don’t allow much to get through my gap or even my other d-tackle’s gap,” said Hampton. “If he can’t be there to make it, I’m going to do the best I can to get there and stop that run.”

SWC’s defense regained its first half form after allowing the Wolverines to come within three points. An interception by Kiman Edwards was book-ended by wide receiver Cameron Lee’s two fourth quarter touchdowns. Lee, winner of the game’s MVP award, also had a first quarter score.

He was on the receiving end of 151 of quarterback Frank Foster’s 321 passing yards and three of his touchdown throws. Wide receiver Jason Gaines caught Foster’s other touchdown pass.

Foster said he was excited about the win, but the previous week’s loss against Chaffey was still in the back of his mind.

“We obviously (did not want) to lose those two games,” he said, “but it was great coming off of that conference loss last week and bouncing back. What we did overall, nine wins, is pretty impressive.”

The End of Days may not be near, but at least for the sophomores their Mayan Hall calendar ended with a bowl victory.

what we did.”

Cheering on the Jaguars was former SWC star Jose Lopez, who holds the school record for 1,500 meters for his time at the 2008 Cal State Championships at Cerritos College.

“He lives in LA and is everywhere we compete,” said Agbede. “He came to (Mount San Antonio College), he came to Riverside and he came today.”

Lopez earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees thanks to full cross country scholarships to Mississippi Valley State.

Lopez praised Agbede, one of SWC’s most successful professors when it comes to transferring h i s students. “ H e is always there pushing me through everything and motivating me,” he said. “You see how it pays off.”

Agbede expects a powerhouse in 2014.

“This has been a very successful year because we have all freshmen with the exception of Sibaja,” he said. “The next step is to rebuild and recruit for next year.”

Serina Duerte/Staff

SPRINT TO THE FINISH— (above) Southwestern’s Steven Lepe and Miguel Lopez battled for the finish line. They both clocked 20:35, but Lepe finished half a step ahead to capture 11th place. Both runners earned All-American honors. (below) SWC’s Rosario Alexander finished 73rd in the field of 203.

Bowling for a

John Domogma/Staff

Championship

David McVicker/Staff

April Abarrondo/Staff

SUPER SOPHOMORES— (top left) Physical play by both teams led to 32 penalties in the Patriotic Bowl, including a pass interference call against Vincent Stafford (3), which negated a Kiman Edwards (8) interception. (center) Wide receiver DeSean Waters makes a move. (above) (l-r) Jeremy Burgos, Khaalid Abdullah and Daniel Castro show off Abdullah’s Defensive Player of the Game award.