Fall 2013 - Issue 1

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 1

theswcsun.com

August19 - September 13, 2013

New emergency poles are operational

By Rick Flores and Adriana Heldiz Staff Writers

Rick Flores/staff

SCPD BLUE — Southwestern College now has blue Emergency Poles in place to provide rapid police response for students and staff in danger. E-Poles are part of a campus safety plan the college is gradually implementing

Senators debate bill to increase online ed.

A new emergency alert system will notify all students and college employees of emergency situations on or near campus, if only the recipients will listen.

Southwestern College students and staff will receive a phone call, a text message and an e-mail when an emergency alert is sent out to the SWC community, according to Acting Police Chief Robert Sanchez. It is SWC’s first venture into mass telephonic emergency communication, Sanchez said, and campus officials said they hope students will give it a chance.

Some students have already expressed concern that they will be charged for college messages if their phone

contracts include call and texting fees.

Melissa Hernandez, a liberal arts major, said some students have mixed feelings about the new system.

“I see the reasoning for giving people the option to not receive a notification,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to not get these notifications, but I can see people not wanting to waste minutes or texts.”

Luis Rodriguez, a biology major, said he supports the system.

Students also have the option to choose what alerts they want to receive as well as choosing not to receive any notifications at all.

“I’m glad there is a way for us to know if there is an emergency on campus so that we don’t go near it,” he said.

Sanchez asked students not to opt

out of the system. Students will only receive notifications regarding campus emergencies and nothing else, he said.

“We do not sell their information to anybody,” he said. “It does not get shared with other people and it does not notify students of school events.

You can’t really put a price tag on someone’s life.”

Each message is pre-scripted to the emergency occurring, such as fire, earthquake or an active shooter.

Campus police will not reply back to student messages. Students will be encouraged to refer to the evacuation p l a n p o s t e d i n m a n y o f S WC classrooms if the situation requires such action.

Sanchez said the emergency system

please see SB520 pg. A2

By David McVicker Editor in Chief

“In Transition,” a Combats Arts exhibit, displayed theraputic art by combat veterans. The provocative exhibit was a joint project of the Campus Art Gallery and SWC Veterans Services.

Campus Police Chief Michael Cash has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of an incident at police headquarters where a gun Cash was holding discharged and a bullet narrowly missed hitting a SWCPD clerk.

College officials have released very little information about the incident, but several sources have informed The Sun that the firing of the police handgun was part of what one described as a “scary and dangerous” situation.

Sources said Cash entered the SWCPD offices and removed his district-issued service weapon from its holster for reasons unknown and Cash t h e we a p o n discharged. A single shot penetrated the wall, narrowly missed campus police clerk Grace David and lodged itself into an adjacent wall in the campus police reception area. Sources said it was unclear whether Cash fired the weapon intentionally or whether it was an accidental discharge.

Following the incident, sources said, Cash “had to be talked down” by SWCPD officers. Cash then surrendered the gun and collapsed to the ground, sources said, demonstrating “shock-like symptoms” and was taken away in an ambulance to a nearby hospital for evaluation. He was subsequently released.

David has been placed on medical leave and has not returned to work since the incident. SWCPD Sergeant Robert Sanchez was named acting chief while an investigation is being conducted.

Sources said the college originally planned to ask the Chula Vista Police Department to investigate the discharge, but CVPD spokesperson Captain Gary Wedge said the college has not requested CVPD assistance. Lillian Leopold, SWC Chief Public Information and Government Relations Officer, said the college has asked the law firm of Liebert, Cassidy, Whitmore to conduct the investigation.

Leopold said college officials are not able to discuss the incident while the investigation is pending.

“We want to make sure that there is a thorough investigation and that both the campus community, and any personnel matter involved with it, are looked at as thoroughly as possible to ensure that there is

Story on page A10

please see Gun Fire pg. A3

please see E-Poles pg. A3

Excising demons through art

By Richard O’Rourke Staff Writer

Americans now use the Internet to shop, pay bills and conduct research.

Some California state legislators would like students to take more classes online.

Senate Bill 520, now pending in Sacramento, would allocate grants to faculty who teach an online class and partner up with a privately-owned online service provider. It would also require colleges and universities to grant credit for courses offered by for-profit schools. Proponents insist SB520 would provide more classes so students could graduate on time and avoid paying tuition for extra semesters.

Opponents of the bill argue it ignores key components of the budget crisis and would cheapen and depersonalize higher education. Critics insist it is a money-making scheme that benefits private, for-profit colleges.

Supporters say community colleges are overcrowded and too many students are waitlisted, particularly in general education classes. Students would be able to take these classes online, advocates insist, and stay on schedule.

Partnering up with a private college would alleviate funding problems and overcrowding, backers argue.

SWC Public Information Officer Lillian Leopold said the bill has some merit.

“It could work well for the college, whether we create more classes ourselves or whether we partner with somebody else,” she said. “In the end, it’s providing the classes that students need.”

Eric Maag, president of the SWC faculty union, said he opposes the bill because it would diminish learning, depersonalize teaching and cheat students out of adult role models.

“At that point students become commodities,” he said.

A similar online system almost caused the New York Institute of Technology to lose its accreditation. Cardean Learning Group, with whom NYIT had partnered, was caught paying recruiters for the number of students they convinced to enroll, an ethical and legal violation.

Apar t from the profit motive, opponents argue that a big part of the budget crisis is not being addressed, which is how funds are allocated by the administration. Maag said administrators too often spent college funds on low priorities rather than professors, counselors and students.

“I think (SB 520) is potentially part of a trend to make it the easiest

Police chief on leave following gun fire in HQ

Marshall Murphy/staff

Salary reductions cancelled thanks to improved budget

By Jaime Pronoble News Editor

California’s improving economy means Southwestern College may dodge financial bullets that brought the institution to the precipice of salary cuts, possible layoffs and further class cuts. A bump in state funding combined with a $600,000 reduction in unemployment insurance payments had a campus that was seeing red suddenly in the black.

In August the State Employment Development Department (EDD) informed the college that its contribution rate for unemployment insurance had been reduced and to expect a reimbursed of $400,000. College officials say this windfall would be used to restore salary reductions negotiated with administrators and classified employees.

“It (the process) is different for different groups,” said Nish. “Three groups agreed to a salary concession of five percent for please see Salary pg. A3

Mason Masis/staff

A2

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013—Vol. 57, Issue 1

SB520: Controversial bill would fund classes at private colleges Continued from page A1

Rick Flores/staff

NO FAN OF A VIRTUAL EDUCATION Faculty union president Eric Maag opposes SB520 and said it will hurt students.

way possible and the least expensive way possible to get them (students) through, as opposed to doing the right thing, which is offering more face-toface classes and reducing the number of administrators we have,” he said.

Maag said SWC is a galling example of misplaced priorities. Last year, he said, college leaders gave substantial raises to four vice presidents while attempting to cut employee salaries and threating layoffs.

Maag said faculty refused to agree to pay cuts because administration cuts.

Even had miscalculated budget revenue and took substantial raises. Maag said there are still not nearly enough teachers at SWC for the number of students, yet spending on other items continues.

“We’ve lost money allocated to our part-time overload budget, which is the budget that we use to create classes,” he said, “while at the same time we’ve been asked to have more students in our classes.”

Critics of SB520 insist that online teaching is impersonal, mechanical, one-dimensional and disposable. Much

of the value of the college experience, Maag said, is the personal interaction between students and professors.

Mentoring, modeling and other benefits would be lost.

D r. M i n k S t a v e n g a , d e a n o f Instructional Support Services, said online professors would need to keep close contact with the students and students would need to communicate through a discussion board for an online class to work. Professors would need to know how to run an online course, he said, but students would also need to have a strong work ethic.

Silvia Kading, an SWC Italian instructor, expressed concern over the work ethic of students coming straight out of high school, where every class is face-to-face and has structure. She said an online professor might not be as effective in motivating and getting through to students. Maag, an awardwinning communication professor, said most communication is nonverbal and for a class like public speaking, physical attendance is required to ensure that students receive quality education as well as motivation from their peers and professor.

“If I’m not interacting with students at that level,” he said, “it can be difficult.”

Kading said physical classes are better for students. She said when learning a language, it is essential to hear accents, idioms and learn the culture. Food, fabrics and popular games brought into class meetings to augment the learning outcomes would not be possible online.

Stavenga said hybrid courses that combine online and face-to-face instruction are better than straight online courses. In a hybrid course, he said, assignments could be turned in online so more class time could be devoted to teaching.

“Hybrid courses, as far as I’m concerned, have great potential for having a happy middle ground,” he said.

SB520 does not include hybrid courses. Opponents such as Catherine L i u , d i re c t o r o f t h e U C Ir v i n e Humanities Collective, question how college careers spent mostly online would affect students. Maag said he remains skeptical. “(Students) might be getting the credit that they need,” he said, “but are they getting the education in that process?”

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

Revised degrees aim to ease transfer Seven SWC programs guarantee transfer to a CSU, more in development

CSU

By Omar Uribe Staff Writer

APPLY FOR ADMISSION

Office and more on the way. It is the stated goal of the Chancellor’s Office California’s often-perilous to have 25 STAR Act transfer agreements between transfer degrees up community colleges and public and running by 2014.

CSU ADMISSION PREFERENCE universities will become Fo u r s t e p s a re TO LOCAL STUDENTS clearer and easier following required for a implementation of a new law curriculum to be to remove barriers, according approved. First, the t o So u t h we s t e r n C o l l e g e faculty creates the administrators. curriculum. Then California Senate Bill 1440, it is sent to the the Student Transfer Achievement SWC Curriculum Reform Act (STAR), enables community Committee colleges and California State University and on to the campuses to create Associate transfer degrees governing board.

ACHIEVE A that will create a smoother transfer process for Curriculum is REQUIRED GPA community college students. approved by the Kathy Tyner, SWC Vice President of Academic Community College Affairs, said she is a fan.

Chancellor’s Office.

“The goal is to simplify the transfer process to S WC A c a d e m i c S e n a t e CSUs,” she said. “The entire admission process President Randy Beach said for the whole state, in terms of CSUs, has the procedure usually takes undergone a change. Math, psychology, English one year. and political science (classes at SWC) have just Once enrolled at a CSU COMPLETE been approved and now we have 14 (transfer campus, students will ENTRANCE degrees) essentially done.” be eligible to complete a STAR lists a number of eligible Associate REQUIREMENTS AND Bachelor’s degree with only degrees that come with a 60-unit cap and a 60 additional units.

PREPARATION FOR guarantee of admission as a junior into the CSU “This is a program that will THE MAJOR system. It prevents CSUs from making students truly benefit California,” said repeat community college courses included in the CSU Chancellor Charles B. Associate’s program.

Reed. “Getting more degree It also enables completion of a Bachelor’s degree holders into the workplace in a specific major within 120 units. h e l p s b u i l d o u r s t a t e’s College spokesperson Lillian Leopold said economy, and that’s good SWC has four degrees approved by the for all of us.”

California Community College Chancellor’s Joaquin Junco/staff

Police chief pleased with emergency drill

By Rick Flores Staff Writer

Disasters on college campuses from Santa Monica to Virginia Tech have forced security professionals to write a new playbook. Southwestern College is working on a new draft.

This spring SWC Police Chief Michael Cash conducted an emergency preparedness drill with about 40 student workers, volunteers and campus police.

“Everything turned out great and the students learned a lot,” said Cash.

“This was a trial run to see if this type of drill would work and it did. I hope to do drills like this more often during the school year.”

SWC’s Readiness Operational Active Response (ROAR) focuses on teamwork to respond quickly in case of an emergency, said Cash.

Participants met in the Student Union and went through live drills for fires, earthquakes and an active shooter.

Larry Lambert, online instructional support specialist, was one of the presenters and later played the shooter.

“Emergency preparedness is a necessity,” he said. “We should have had a drill like this sooner because we have had to deal with dangerous situations on campus.”

Tanya Lozano was one of the students that participated in the drill.

“It was crazy and unexpected to deal with these situations,” she said.

“It was one thing to be told what to do and another thing to actually live through all of these situations.”

One exercise dealt with earthquakes.

Students walked into a dark, smokey room and had to rescue victims underneath rubble.

I n s t r u c t i o n a l A s s i s t a n t To d d Williamson told students to remain calm, shelter in place, rescue and evacuate.

“Never try to venture off on your own,” he said. “Try to wait it out and tap on walls and stick clothes out of a window to be found. Always help the disabled and follow designated evacuation routes to avoid getting lost or hurt.”

Training Ser vices Coordinator Andre Ortiz gave a lecture on proper

Jaime Pronoble, editor

NEWS

Former trustee Agosto dies at 65

By Jaime Pronoble News Editor

Former governing board trustee David Jay Agosto died suddenly this month from liver failure. He was 65.

Agosto worked at Southwestern College in the 1970s and was at one time director of financial aid.

He later worked at the California Community College Chancellor’s office in Sacramento before becoming vice president of student services at

Cuyamaca College.

In 2000 Agosto was elected to the SWC Governing Board and served for eight years. He was a community college administration for 25 years and spent six years as an adjunct instructor.

“What was important, was that all the years since he had been here as an employee and had left to work in other places, he always wanted to come back and serve Southwestern College as a board member,” said trustee Norma Hernandez.

EOPS supports disadvantaged students

By Nicole Hernandez Staff Writer

Serina D uarte /staff

CATCHING FIRE — Students learn how to extinguish a fire during a Southwestern College preparedness drill, part of a new comprehensive safety plan.

procedures for fires, including use of extinguishers.

“Never fight a fire without the proper equipment,” he said. “Make sure when using an extinguisher you are aiming at the base of the flame and sweeping side-to-side.”

Students were later surprised when

they walked into room 214 and found Lambert portraying the role of an active gunman firing a cap gun at them. Most students responded quickly and correctly.

Cash complemented students on how well they did and said he was pleased with the drill.

More than most states, California tries to provide serious students the opportunity to attend college. Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) was created to lend support to students who are educationally and financially disadvantaged.

EOPS offers an array of services, including a $275 book allotment, extra tutoring and counseling.

“The book money was very helpful to me personally,” said Raymond Padilla, 21.

“At one point in the semester I didn’t have enough to get the last textbook I needed and EOPS provided me with that help.”

EOPS counselor David Ramirez called the book service a “big attraction,” one of many to aid promising low-income students.

EOPS was created in 1969 to assist students who could not attend college due to poverty, discrimination and inequalities.

In 1970 it opened at 46 community colleges. Today all 112 California community colleges have the program.

Despite its success, funding for the program has dipped, said Ramirez.

“EOPS is a categorical program which means we get our money from Sacramento,” he said. “It does not come from SWC. When Sacramento got hit with the budget cuts, it hit all EOPS programs in California.”

EOPS is helpful but not a panacea, according to SWC EOPS Director Arlie Ricasa.

“Not every student receives (a) degree

certificate or transfer for a variety of reasons,” she said. “However, EOPS students tend to have a higher completion state versus general students in the California Community College system.”

Padilla said priority registration from EOPS is helpful.

“I do not have to fight for my classes and in return it allows me to better succeed in school,” he said.

Student Employment Services is another arm of EOPS. It helps with job preparation and job placement, as well as workshops on personal development, study skills, career options and majors. Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education is a program for EOPS students who are single parents of young children.

EOPS applicants must be California residents enrolled in at least 12 units who qualify for the Board of Governors fee waiver. They must be “educationally disadvantaged” with either low math or English placement scores, a high school dropout, have a language deficiency or be a first-generation college student.

Applications are available at the end of every semester at the EOPS Office in the Cesar Chavez One-Stop Center. Ramirez said his job is to help students find a path to success.

“Some students come in wanting to get an associate degree, we encourage them to consider transferring,” he said. “Students that do transfer will likely want to transfer to San Diego State and we encourage students to consider other options as well.

We like to paint pictures so that they can see they do have choices.”

NEWS

The Southwestern College Sun

E-Poles: SWC updates its campus security

By Georgina Carriola and Gonzalo Quintana Staff Writers

is part of the multifaceted plan to improve campus safety. Blue Emergency Poles ( or E-Poles) have been installed on campus. E-Poles can broadcast emergency information and can be used by students to reach 911 dispatchers if they are in danger or have witnessed a crime.

Sanchez said pressing the blue button on the E-Poles is the same as calling 911 and he urged students to refrain from using them for non-emergencies.

“These poles are directly linked to emergency services,” he said. “Abusing the system and making prank calls is a violation of the law.”

By Anna Pryor Viewpoints Editor

Southwestern College wants people to mind their own business.

Any kind of business.

San Diego County’s Small Business Enhancement Program awarded a $24,000 grant to the SWC Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to provide expanded assistance to start ups.

SBDC has been providing workshops, training and one-on-one counseling to start-up businesses for 17 years. With the new grant it can continue to provide technical assistance to even more people trying to start, expand or maintain a small business.

Aleta Wilson, regional director of the San Diego-Imperial Valley Small Business Development Center Network, said the grant will be used to enhance small firms, defined as businesses with $40 million or less in annual sales.

“Most (entrepreneurs) say their biggest problem is getting acWilson cess to capitol they need to grow their firm or to start their firm,” she said.

There are many groups focusing on financially supporting biotech and technology companies, Wilson said.

“We are going to use this money from the city to financially support non-biotech and technology firms,” she said.

SWC spokesperson Lillian Leopold said the grant will also be used for workshops to empower small business owners to succeed. About $15,000 will be distributed to personnel expenses, including a project manager, senior consultant and trainer.

Another $3,300 is set aside for workshops and training expenses.

There is $1,900 budgeted for a subject matter expert in small business financing.

SBDC plans to use its Business Success Model, based on a successful model called Connect, which helped participants raise more than $18 million for coaching and mentoring of developing businesses.

A n o t h e r a i m o f t h e p ro j e c t i s to bring more jobs to the region through small businesses. Training and counseling will be provided to 250 local companies, including startup businesses seeking small business certification, companies with 11 or more employees, firms seeking loans for working capital, and veteran and woman-owned businesses.

Information sessions will begin in November. Applicants will be accepted through December. Workshops and mentoring for the 250 applicants selected will initiate in January 2014.

Training will be completed within eight months.

Joaquin Junco/staff

Gun Fire: Campus police chief placed on administrative leave Continued from page A1

no attempt to hide any information. Once the investigation is over, it will depend on what we can and cannot release (due to privacy issues.)”

Some college employees, however, expressed frustration that a dangerous incident has been dealt with so quietly and without sharing information with the public. A number of college employees said they have been ordered not to discuss the episode.

“We literally dodged a bullet on this,” said a source that asked not to be identified.

“We are very lucky no one was hit by gunfire that day. That was a very serious situation.”

A number of sources said that they felt it was important that a full accounting of the events that preceded and followed the shooting be made public. Sources also said that the event was “highly irregular” as district policy stipulates that weapons are to remain holstered when in an officer’s possession, except in the case of a threat.

“Police at all levels are carefully trained about gun safety,” said a source who asked not to be identified. “That’s like the first lesson on the first day of police academy.

For an officer to discharge a weapon, that’s bad news.”

After suffering reductions in staff and hours during the spring semester, the Southwestern College library is back at full strength.

Regular hours have been rstored following the hiring of librarian Arnold Josafat and library assistants Alejandra Hurtado and Bobby Feller.

Hours are again 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Monday – Thursday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Fridays, and 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Students have expressed relief that the library is now open when they can use it, including computer science major Estuardo Melgar.

“I come to class in the mornings from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.,” he said.

“And then I work from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.”

Student worker Gabriela Lopez SWC campus police officers carry .40-caliber Glock handguns issued by the college. Glock handguns contain the “Safe Action” system, a fully-automatic safety system consisting of three passive, independently operating, mechanical safeties, which sequentially disengage when the trigger is pulled and automatically reengage when the trigger is released, according to information provided by the Glock Corporation. A Glock’s safety serves as a “drop safety” to discourage accidental discharge.

“To make a Glock fire you pretty much have to pull the trigger,” said a law enforcement professional who asked not to be identified. “I mean, guns are dangerous and things can go wrong, but we are trained to make sure things don’t go wrong.”

Parking permits now available online

By Brittany Black-Jones Staff Writer

Long lines in the hot August sun to buy parking permits are a thing of the past now that Southwestern College has moved to online purchasing.

SWC has contracted with Credentials Solutions to simplify the once-arduous process. Other community colleges such as San Diego Mesa College and San Diego City College have had the option of buying parking permits online for a number of years and students have reported good results. SWC implemented the change for the fall semester. College spokesperson Lillian Leopold said the new system seems to be working very well.

“I think part of it is that we went through a third party vendor to get the parking permits online,” she said. “We can’t enter credit card information on our website, so that’s probably another reason why we went through this vendor.”

Online permit purchasing spares students from having to stand in long lines, said Leopold. Nearly 6,000 students bought permits online, she said.

Leopold said college officials hope that less-expensive, easier-to-buy permits will help resolve some tension in the neighborhood across the street from SWC.

“We’re trying to come up with a solution for the students who park in College Estates,” she said. “If you got a permit for Lot O or Lot G, you got a discount. The regular price was $40, the BOGs were $20.

To park in Lot O and G is $20 as well.”

Although purchasing permits is more convenient, some students still insist they are too pricey.

“Either way, I find the parking permits too expensive,” said Kyle Buenaflor, a fire science major. “I have a car and a bike, and I don’t mind walking. (Permits) available online doesn’t make me want to buy one.”

Other students said they appreciated the online system.

“For my first time doing it, I thought it was easy and convenient,” said nursing major Brittany Moffatt. “I just went online, paid my $20 and it came in the mail in about three days.”

Making parking permits available online was a project of Police Chief Michael Cash and Dean of Student Services Mia McClellan, said Leopold. Cash is on administrative leave and was not available for comment. McClellan refused to cooperate with a reporter from The Sun and refused to be interviewed unless she was given questions in advance.

Professional journalism ethics forbid

questions in advance, particularly when there is reason to believe a third party may answer the questions instead of the intended source. McClellan’s office has committed that infraction in the past.

The Sun filed a California Public Records Act requesting documents and information McClellan’s office refused to supply related to online parking permits. College officials failed to respond within the law’s 10-day deadline. Patti Blevins, the SWC CPRA compliance officer, said she has received no response from McClellan. The Sun’s Editorial Board will continue to pursue the documents and will seek legal intervention if necessary, said David McVicker, Editorin-Chief of The Sun. “The information Dean McClellan refuses to share is public information and any member of the community has the legal right to it,” McVicker said. “The Editorial Board of The Sun is concerned that some members of the current administration still seem to be behaving in the manner of the previous Chopra-Alioto administration and the former PIO Chris Bender. As a matter of principle we will continue to insist on full access to public officials and public documents.”

With contributions by Gonzalo Quintana

said students are taking advantage of Saturdays when the normallyteaming library is less crowded.

During the spring 2013 semester library hours were reduced Monday – Friday and the facility closed on Saturdays. Two classified staff were lost last semester, one due to retirement, the other resignation.

Dr. Mi n k St a ve n g a , d e a n o f Instructional Support Services, said that an agreement between the district and the classified union prevented the college from replacing classified staff until after the fiscal year, which ended on June 30.

Stavenga said no one wanted to see library hours curtailed – particularly during finals week – but his hands were tied.

“We had two people left,” he said.

“And obviously you can’t cover 54 hours with two people.”

With contributions by Jaime Pronoble

Salary: Pay cuts for classified, administrative employees restored Continued from page A1

two years with triggers.”

Triggers in the contract required that new or freed revenue first go to restoring salary cuts. Nish said the EDD rebate and 2013-14 savings would almost cover the cost of restoring salary cuts.

Faculty negotiators did not agree to a 2013-14 pay cut. Faculty member had their pay rate restored on July 1 following a voluntary two percent pay cut last fiscal year.

Classified employees union president Bruce MacNintch expressed relief that the FY13-14 salary cuts have been avoided.

“The goal is to get it (the restoration) on the October paycheck,” he said. “The payroll runs September 23 and we can’t go through the ratification process fast enough to where it could be done in September.”

Nish said concessions were necessary due to a “structural deficit” at the college.

A balanced budget remains a priority, she said.

“Once salaries are restored, we want to make sure that deficit is gone,” she said.

College officials next priority is to restore the reserve to its historical level of seven percent, she said.

New revenue will restore salaries, but it does not completely eliminate the budget deficit, which is now $600,000, according to Nish. This represents a significant decrease from the previously projected deficit of $1 million, she said.

Faculty union president Eric Maag expressed relief that no employees would have their salaries cut this academic year.

“I think it’s great news,” he said. “Three of the (four employee) groups on campus made agreements on pay cuts and the budget now became clear, and it was clear that (reductions were) not necessary. We have the money to restore those cuts and it was the right thing to do, especially in the face of all this talk about budget deficits.”

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY GOLF ACADEMY  Online or on-campus programs  State-of-the-art swing labs  Financial aid and transfer scholarships  Streamlined transfer admissions  Internships available PROGRAMS AVAILABLE  Associate of Science in Professional Golf Management  Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration*  Bachelor of Arts in Sport Psychology*  Master of Arts in Business Administration*  Master of Arts in Performance Psychology  Certificate in Professional Golf Management *Specialization and concentration available in Professional Golf Management

WWW.NUGOLFACADEMY.ORG



877.NUGOLF.1

705 PALOMAR AIRPORT ROAD, SUITE 150CARLSBAD, CA 92011 © 2013 National University 13237

With contributions by Jaime Pronoble

A3

Library positions replaced, hours restored

Continued from page A1

Grant will allow SWC to serve small businesses

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013—Vol. 57, Issue 1

A4

The Southwestern College Sun

August 19 - September 13, 2013 — Volume 57, Issue 1

VIEWPOINTS 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

Casual sex invites many serious dangers

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

David McVicker ART DIRECTOR/BUSINESS MANAGER

Amanda L. Abad PRODUCTION MANAGER

Daniel Guzman SENIOR STAFF

Nickolas Furr NEWS

Jaime Pronoble, editor Gonzalo Quintana, assistant VIEWPOINTS

Anna Pryor, editor Ytzel Alonso, assistant CAMPUS

Joaquin Basauri, co-editor Amanda Abad, co-editor

Joaquin Junco Jr./Staff ARTS

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

Nicholas Baltz, editor John Domogma, assistant ONLINE

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

Serina Duarte, editor Karen Tome, assistant GENERAL ASST. EDITOR KASEY THOMAS

STAFF WRITERS

Luis Alltriste

Alma Hurtado

Jose Luis Baylon

Victoria Leyva

Maria Bertalan

Jason O’Neal

Brittany Black-Jones

Richard O’Rourke

Cindy Borjas

Jose Ovalle

Lee Bosch

Alyssa Pajarillo

Madeline Cabrera

Pablo Pedroza

Georgina Carriola

Ana Raymundo

Zayda Cavazos

Alejandra Rosales

Liliana Cervantes

Gabriel Sandoval

Andre Chenova

Marianna Saponara

Victor Ene

Georgina Saucedo

John Freeman

Stephanie

Adrian Gomez

Suworow

Colin Grylls

Omar Uribe

Kael Heath

Daniel Valdez

Adriana Heldiz CARTOONISTS

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Alisa Alipusan

Priscila Berumen

Dan Cordero

Pablo Cervantes

Wendy Gracia

Julian Flores

Joaquin Junco Jr.

Rick Flores

Michelle Phillips

Pablo Gandara

Gabriel Hernandez

Marshall Murphy Ricardo Rios

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, 2004-12

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,

2001-12

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, 2002-12

Award

The Issue: Despite its rhetoric, SWC does not do enough to keep students and faculty safe.

editorial

Our Position: Administrators need to stop being defensive and listen to the concerns of students.

PR no substitute for leadership

Let us get a few disclaimers out of the way. The Editorial Board of The Sun is very fond of Dr. Angelica Suarez, the perky vice president of student services. We also like Dean of Student Affairs Mia McClellan, who is genuinely friendly and generally held in high regard by the ASO students she works with.

That said, we have some very serious problems with the way Dean McClellan has handled student safety issues at Southwestern College and we are very disappointed that Dr. Suarez has blindly supported her despite mounting evidence that the college does not adequately protect vulnerable students and staff from bullies, sociopaths and potentially violent students.

We respect Dr. Suarez’s right to express her opinion and disagree with our May editorial calling for a safer campus (even though sending it in a global e-mail and to all students’ e-mails was over the top). What we do not like is her knee-jerk response to defend her friend rather than consider the evidence. Circling the wagons is no substitute for leadership and we need some clear-eyed leadership right now.

This summer staff members of The Sun contacted nearly two dozen students and former students who have filed complaints, police reports and documentation with McClellan’s office of student affairs. Most of them said the same thing. They were dragged through a tedious process with the end result of no meaningful sanctions for the perpetrator.

Some of them said they felt so unprotected and unsafe at Southwestern College that they quit school.

It is not just students who are unhappy with the college’s less-than-rigorous efforts to remove threatening students and maintain campus safety. Following our May editorial on this subject, staff members of The Sun heard from several members of the faculty, adjunct instructors and classified employees who came forward to say that aggressive, threatening students too often get a slap on the wrist and are returned to the campus with few or no consequences.

Dr. Suarez’s statement that McClellan’s office is not able to release all details related to punishments or interventions meted out against aggressive students is probably mostly

Online Comments Policy

true, but also a ringing copout. We know that violent students have been let off easy and returned to campus life with little or no consequence – they make it a point to let us know. For many bad guys it seems to be a point of honor to be dragged into the office of student affairs and have bragging rights later that “this f***ing college can’t touch me!”

Our college campuses are dangerous enough these days. Virginia Tech, San Diego City College, Santa Monica College and others have been the sites of murderous rampages from students and non-students alike. It is bad enough when a random unhinged gunman barges on to a campus to conduct mayhem.

Worse – and most inexcusable – is when we know who the unhinged are and allow them to stick around and continue to escalate their threatening behavior.

Colleges that ignore or wrist-slap students who harass or bully others are finally being held accountable. Occidental College was recently fined and sanctioned by the federal government for not protecting students and faculty.

Southwestern College has dodged bullets a few times in the past 15 years. We hope our luck continues to hold. Wishing for luck, however, is not enough. SWC’s campus safety committee deserves props for revamping the college’s old and creaky safety plan.

Committee members know the world is a dangerous place and preparation should get the nod over prayer.

The Editorial Board of The Sun stands firmly behind its May editorial and calls for the leadership of this institution to dispense with the PR and listen to students when they say they do not feel safe here. Pay attention when young women quit college because they are bullied and harassed. Take note when the people who teach here say they do not feel supported. Effective leaders listen, even if they do not like what they are hearing.

We are trying to tell our college’s leaders that too many students do not feel safe and that there are dangerous people on our campus that get away with anti-social and scary behavior. Let us hope they do not get away with murder.

Letters Policy

The Sun reserves the right to republish web comments

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

Opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are those

in the newspaper and will not consider publishing

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

of the individual writers and do not necessarily represent

anonymously posted web comments or comments that

viewpoints@theswcsun.com. E-mailed letters must include a phone

the views of The Sun Staff, the Editorial Board or

are inflammatory or libelous. Post web comments at

number. The Sun reserves the right to edit letters for libel and length and

Southwestern College.

theswcsun.com.

will not consider publishing letters that arrive unsigned.

Too many men and women in their late teens and early twenties do not consider the implications of their one-night stands and first-date hookups.

Casual sex is not a problem of promiscuity as much as Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). Past history is a fair topic. As embarrassing as it may be to have that talk with a partner, it is worse to end up having that talk with a doctor.

Having sex with someone is comparable to having sex with everyone the other person has been with. This opens the disease floodgates. There are more than 25 known STDs and some of the most common ailments do not yet have a cure.

STD carriers do not always know they are infected and a potential partner may have no way of being able to tell visually because there are not always signs or symptoms. Half of the newly infected are between the age of 15-24.

Once someone is infected, gender plays a role in how they are affected.

Women are less likely than men to show symptoms for common diseases such as chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Often the infection will remain even if the symptoms go away. STDs can damage a woman’s ability to have children. They can be passed on to children, causing serious injuries or death.

While sex has many benefits to both sides, perks can be diminished by chemical reactions. When a man has an orgasm, the pleasure hormone dopamine is released. Like a drug, it is addictive.

On the other side of the bed, women release oxytocin. It increases their empathy, bonding and is the culprit for women falling in love after sex.

About 30 areas of the brain are stimulated two minutes before a woman’s orgasm. Oxytocin can confuse women by making them believe their partner is a long-term cornerstone rather than a short-term fling. Brain chemistry makes it emotionally difficult for a woman to have casual sex.

Cheap sex can also make you feel cheap. Men cannot get pregnant, but they can still be ruined by a bad fling.

Tragedies, breakups or low self-esteem affect men as well as women. Meaningless sex can blur judgment or stir up old wounds.

Rushing into sex can set a bad precedent for the rest of the relationship. Knowing someone better alleviates tension related to performance expectations and self-esteem issues.

Couples need time to discuss what they want from the relationship. Time eases awkwardness and can ward off dangerous and unwarranted situations. People can become possessive and obsessive, and this can lead to stalking and abuse.

Casual sex is not the taboo today that it was for centuries. It is increasingly becoming a conversation we are more comfortable to have.

We are all products of sex and always will be. New diseases, though, have made it a riskier proposition.

Like smoking, unsafe sex is on the rise despite a well-informed public.

Most Americans receive their first formal sexual education somewhere between sixth-eighth grade, according to a 2010 report published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Sadly, sex education stops there for some.

Sex is a natural and inevitable act, so information and thoughtfulness need to be part of the process. A good rule to abide by is if you are not absolutely sure, then you absolutely should not do it.

Anna may be reached at sexandthesun@theswcsun.com

Anna Pryor, editor

VIEWPOINTS

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

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 1

A5 A5

SWC lags other colleges in recycling Students drowning in a flood of college loan debt

By Liliana Cervantes A Perspective

Ailsa Alipusan/Staff

By Jason O’Neal A Perspective

Southwestern College claims to be going green, but its lack of a recycle program has environmental-minded students seeing red. Finding a recycling bin on this campus is the equivalent to searching for the Holy Grail. Recycling containers are harder to find at SWC than affordable textbooks.

S WC ’s r e c y c l i n g s i t u a t i o n i s embarrassing. Its current strategy is to have students lay recyclables on the ground near a trash can and wait for an industrious off-campus person with rubber gloves and a bulging plastic bag to pick them up. Effective, but ghetto. Carlos Ramirez and a group of environmentallyfriendly students have taken it upon themselves to spearhead a drive to increase the number of campus waste containers for recyclables. Black boxes that have spontaneously appeared at SWC are the result of the work by Ramirez & Co. Ramirez said it is his desire to start a permanent campaign for recycling. SWC administration, he said, provides the freedom to come up with ideas to promote recycling, but that is where assistance stops. SWC talks green but acts brown, paying lip service to serious recycling.

Two decades ago, in July 1993, SWC and the city of Chula Vista adopted an ordinance to reduce the volume of recyclable materials in local landfills.

Specifically, the Southwestern Community

College District Policy assigned this responsibility to the custodial supervisor.

It is the supervisor’s duty to implement the district’s recycling program and initiatives.

This includes the purchase, installation and maintenance of containers in appropriate locations, as well as scheduling the pick up of recycled materials.

Custodial Supervisor Ramsey Romero is in charge of collecting the paper waste on campus. He said he does not know who is responsible for picking up the glass, plastic and aluminum, but he did indicate an outside contractor was possibly collecting the waste.

Romero was not the only district employee who drew a blank when asked about recycling. District facilities employees said they knew about college policies for commercial and industrial waste, organic vegetation material and office paper collection, but they knew nothing about current practices for the recycling of cans and bottles.

Without a clear directive, SWC seems content on allowing visitors and students to collect this recyclable consumer waste each afternoon. Though this marketdriven approach gets most of the cans and bottles to the recycler behind Ralph’s, relying on good Samaritans to fulfill the responsibilities of designated staff members is poor practice.

SWC needs to join the 21st century and initiate a meaningful recycling program.

Virtually every other college and university

in the United States has clearly-marked, easy-to-locate recycling bins. Our college’s absence of recycling contributes to a messy campus and sends the message to tens of thousands of students that recycling and our environment are not important.

Since its inception in 1993, the SWC Environmental/Natural Resources Policy has not been updated or implemented.

Right now, on its 20 th anniversary, would be a great time to create a viable recycling directive. Besides being the moral and responsible course of action, effective collection of recyclable materials can generate revenue for the campus.

Encouraging students and clubs to assist the Associated Students’ Organization (ASO) can lead to increased proceeds that are desperately needed to fund worthy projects.

Concern about unsightly containers all over campus is a red herring. Some of the brightest and most talented artists in San Diego County attend classes here and the surfaces of the receptacles can be painted and used as canvases for artistic expression. The city of Chula Vista has very nice faux-stone trash receptacles at its parks and walkways. Why can’t SWC? Do we accept ghetto as granted?

Students on campus have the right idea and SWC administration should follow their lead. This campus needs to change and the buck passing needs to stop.

It is time to stop kicking the cans – and bottles – down the road.

College tuition should come with a warning label, “p a y b a c k n o t g u a r a n t e e d .”

College students are led to believe that they have a prosperous future ahead of them. This is a fallacy. Diplomacy gears no guarantee of prosperity.

Cost of an education today is outrageous and success is elusive. Even worse, there are f e wways to afford college without using student loans.

Student loan debt is so high it has surpassed all other forms of debts, except mortgages.

Ma n y c o l l e g e students will have a delayed future ahead as milestones like owning a car, moving out of a parent’s house and starting a family will be financially difficult.

College graduates are trying to pay off their student loans while looking for a job when the unemployment rate is still high.

Student loans have become a d a rk , h a u n t i n g shadow lingering behind student’s lives. They do not go away even if a person declares bankruptcy. Southwestern College is certainly a bargain financially, but most degrees are only valuable if you transfer.

San Diego State University’s basic mandatory undergraduate tuition fees costs are about $6,700.

This does not include housing, food, transportation, school supplies, and any other miscellaneous fees that total about $15,000 to $25,000 for California residents.

Students receiving financial aid will most likely be able to pay for

ThinkingOutLoUd

their first year at SDSU, but with a gradually higher price tag each year it is becoming increasingly difficult to graduate in four ye a r s . St u d e n t loans make a difference in years.

Current fixed interest rates for subsidized and unsubsidized student loans was 3.86 percent for undergraduates and 5.41 percent for graduates, which is a significant decrease from the previous fixed interest rates at 6.8 percent.

But let the buyer beware.

This low interest rate can increase over the next 10 years to 8.25 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively.

This radical future interest rate increase is enough to terrify many students. This kind of i n t e re s t s t r u c t u re c o u l d discourage future generations from attending college.

Instead of pursuing a major they are passionate about, students may choose whichever major has the best chance of paying off student loans in the least amount of time. Innovative artistic thinking, and creativity can be lost as students conform to careers that will supposedly have the financial benefits they seek.

Students should tr y to avoid a debt-ladder future, and apply for grants, and scholarships w h e n e v e r possible. Student loan should be the last resort.

What are the boundary lines of sexual harassment?

Tony Lopez, 26, Philosophy Major

Jazmine Johnston, 19, criminology major

TRE Wilson, 19, Business Major

Maria Huizar, 19, Communications major

Ricky Lutz, 19, Political Science Major

“Unwanted sexual advances towards someone. If I don’t want someone to touch me, don’t touch me. Simple as that.”

“A woman can be walking down the hallways and a guy can say something to you and make you feel uncomfortable.”

“You say something to a woman and she may take that offensively.

You may not know unless she lets you know. She has to tell you right then and there. If you proceed it turns into sexual harassment.

“You can look at someone the wrong way and make them feel uncomfortable, or you can say something to make someone feel uncomfortable.”

“Sexual harassment is making someone uncomfortable the things that you say or the way you touch them.”

Compiled by Marshall Murphy and John Domogma

Letter to the Editor: SWC is committed to district safety This letter is in response to your editorial published in the most recent publication of the SUN entitled “SWC fails to safeguard vulnerable students.” As Vice President for Student Affairs, it is absolutely essential to set the record straight with the following correction to the editorial – Southwestern College, Student Affairs, and the College Police are strongly committed to the safety of all students, staff and faculty throughout the district and

we have clear policies and procedures in place to assure that each student’s d u e p ro c e s s i s c a r r i e d o u t , t h a t confidentiality of all parties is maintained, and that the appropriate response/action is taken.

L a s t s e m e s t e r, w e f u r t h e r s t re n g t h e n e d t h e p r o c e d u re s o f student conduct and created a student grievance policy to include new federal and state requirements.

Procedure 5530 (Student Rights and Grievances), and Procedure 5500

(Standards of Student Conduct) are posted on our website (http://www. swccd.edu/index.aspx?page=417) and outline the student’s and institution’s responsibilities that govern student conduct, grievances and due process at the college.

As part of the procedures, students, faculty and staff are encouraged to come to the Office of Student Services to discuss student grievances or student misconduct with the dean. However, we must protect

student confidentiality as required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); therefore, we are not allowed to discuss the outcome of such conversations with college staff. Hence, this may create the erroneous perception that action has not been taken.

Please rest assured that staff takes student grievances and staff reports of student misconduct seriously, and works closely with our college police department, College Safety

Committee and the Crises Response Committee to balance student rights with institutional responsibility in order to maintain a safe working and learning environment for students and college employees.

Thank you for helping us ensure that students know they can continue to report any incident that impacts their safety and ability to successfully learn at Southwestern College.

- Dr. Angelica Suarez Vice President of Student Services

A6

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 1

VIEWPOINTS

The Southwestern College Sun

Unit cap restricting community college student progress

Gabriel Hernandez /Staff

By Robert Aguirre A Perspective

Picking a major is a fundamental step in a student’s collegiate career. This is especially true if the student is receiving money from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to help pay for school.

Students are hindered by a strict limit of

how many units they can complete before being stripped of their FAFSA benefits.

When a student constantly changes their major with no transfer in sight, they risk hitting the 90-unit mark and losing aid until they transfer to a four-year university.

A 90-unit policy is unfair to students who work hard but have outside obligations keeping them from transferring to a

four-year university. Community college is a place where students go through a transition to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives. A cap at 90 units is not a suitable limit for students who are trying to figure out their academic and professional goals.

The minimum requirement to transfer to a four-year university is 60 units. Federal

Student Aid enacts the 90-unit rule to benefit students who are just beginning their college career and need to sample areas in brand new areas so that they can find a good fit. Community college should be a place where you can try astronomy, journalism, psychology, nutrition and all the other classes you cannot take in highschool.

A 90-unit cap is a terrible policy. Students may change their major several times before they find one they are comfortable with. Once a major is changed, students may have to start from square one or take additional classes. Another consequence of reaching the 90-unit limit affects those students who have transferred courses from other colleges. Some students are stuck at the community college level due to poor GPA and are transferring to another community college to retake the classes they have failed to boost their GPA to meet the university requisites to transfer. Many times a student attends community college because it is a more affordable option or they can not attend full-time due to work, family matters, or other external priorities out of their control. Students are told by counselors and instructors that obtaining an associates will boost their chances of landing an entry-level position in their field of study while working on their bachelor’s degree.

Some students who already have their bachelor’s or post-graduate degree are taking a small number of courses because they have been laid off from their job or need to learn a skill needed in their field of expertise to improve their job performance.

This is called continuing education and many jobs require it. Community college is a cheaper alternative that also provides more interaction with the professor because of the small classrooms with a fixed number of students.

Students who have reached the 90-unit limit should be able to file an appeal with the financial aid office and extend their aid when taking a minimum 12 units and have a GPA 3.0 or higher.

Students who can not attend school full-time will have to go through fast-track hybrid classes so they will complete their 12 units in eight-week intervals, allowing them to keep maintain a steady workload.

Hybrid classes will allow students to miss days but still be expected to pick up the able to learn the material necessary to pass the class. This solution would provide a realistic goal for students and demonstrate that they are close to transferring to a fouryear university.

Unpaid internships can be wonderful Civil discourse in the U.S. is no longer very civil opportunities or modern day slavery

By Anna Pryor A perspective

Internships can be the gateway to a career in a competitive profession or the 21st century form of slavery. College students who hope to work their way into their dream careers have literally been worked to death.

A good internship at a reputable company should be a win-win for the firm and the student. At an ideal internship the company gets a bright, committed student which will contribute in a meaningful way. Students are able to learn relevant skills from experienced professionals, live the culture of the industry and earn a leg up on other college graduates at application time. Though internships are generally temporary and parttime, an ethical company provides a small stipend for expenses or even a part-time salary.

Unpaid internships, though often rich with valuable experience, can also be highly exclusionary. Affluent students who do not have to worry about rent, food and maintenance on transportation are able to accept unpaid internships, while lowerincome students often cannot afford to accept them because they have to work. Students from the poverty and working classes too often cannot afford to grab the first rung on the ladder of success.

Unpaid internships can also be abusive. There has been a recent wave of lawsuits against companies in New York. A collective of former unpaid interns filed a $5 million lawsuit against NBCUniversal. Their claim is that the financial success of the company is reliant on an army of unpaid or underpaid interns. They were denied the benefits of paid employees, yet were put to work the same way. The case is pending.

Many businesses depend heavily on the free labor. Unpaid interns have been used to replace the entry-level workers in too many unscrupulous companies.

Lawsuits have also questioned the definition of internships, which is vague.

Interns who are merely coffee-runners, filers and proprietors of menial tasks are not learning about the profession.

Employers are taking advantage of the interns’ eagerness and energy by dangling the keys to the door in front of them. Some interns leave with no applicable knowledge or experience.

Fortunately, many big name technology companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Amazon do it right and pay their interns. Facebook, in fact, pays more than $6,000 monthly to its interns, provides gym access and three meals a day. While that is an interning panacea, there is a good lesson here. Tech companies lure the best and the brightest from our elite universities by treating

interns well. It also speaks to the integrity and ethics of the company.

On the other end of the scale are the cruel and exploitive practices of some law firms and investment banks where unpaid interns can labor anywhere from 60 to 80 hours a week. Moritz Erhardt, 21-yearold intern at Bank of America, died shortly before his internship ended from exhaustion and malnutrition. Following the death, Bank of America announced it was looking into the affects the long hours and hazardous work conditions have on young employees. Hmm, seems the answer to that question is—they kill people.

Bank of America and other abusive companies are engaging in modern day s l a v e r y.

Wo r k i n g someone to death is an astonishing act of barbarism, particularly from a wealthy corporation with an enormous profit margin Southwestern College tries to protect students from the Bank of Americas of the world and provide college credit via its interning class called Cooperative Work Experience Education (CWEE).

Students who have declared a major can earn up to 16 units through this program.

CWEE strives to help students crack the conundrum, “How do I get a job without experience and how do I get experience without a job?” When the answer is an unpaid internship, some students are automatically excluded. The poor get poorer.

Professors at SWC by and large do a commendable job steering students into valuable internships and away from usury work-for-free situations. We appreciate the wisdom our caring professors show because we are still earning ours.

Joaquin Junco Jr./Staff

By Joaquin Junco Jr. A perspective

Polite people, we are taught, never discuss religion or politics at cocktail parties.

College is not a cocktail party.

Our college years are meant for growing and learning. Spirited debates are inevitable.

Political etiquette is essential. College students learn to debate vigorously, engage fully and then go have a friendly cup of coffee later in the day. Learning is never mean-spirited.

Too bad our nation’s political parties are not as zen. Disagreements turn into blood sport that divides and polarizes people.

Washington D.C. is a gridlocked disaster area where partisanship has run amuck.

If President Obama white, Republicans immediately—and fiercely—say black. If Obama served Mexican food at lunch, the GOP would complain and demand Italian.

Politics has become rabid and nasty.

Every debate seems to transform into a fierce battle where the goal is to demonize a rival. Ann Coulter is the poster child of hateful discourse. Her seres of liberalbashing books are increasingly angry, puerile and disturbing. Her book titled, “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)”, instructs conservative readers on how to handle liberal opponents. With books like “Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America” and “If Democrats

Had Any Brains, They’d be Republican”, Coulter is not qualified to speak about respect. Rather than engage in a meaningful discussion of issues, she has used her talent for money.

Civilized discussions refrain from making generalizations about people whom they may disagree. Stereotyping Democrats and Republicans is disrespectful and intellectually lazy. No two members of a party think alike, so claiming that all conservatives are racists or that all liberals are tree-hugging hippies is unprofessional and wrong. Generalities are shortcuts to actual thinking.

On the other hand, we have our right to speak our minds about the other party. Along with that freedom comes the responsibility to back arguments and rebuttals with solid evidence instead of speculation and emotionalism. Etiquette need not limit the extent of our freedom of speech, but to ensure that a meaningful exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, a.m. radio and television outlets are saturated with programs that place shock value before facts and acrimony over thoughtful discussion.

Political discussions should promote discovery not destruction. Passion is a plus, but mania is worthless. College prepares students for the real world, and learning political etiquette is essential. Maybe someday we can teach the “grownups” how it should be done.

August 19 - September 13, 2013 — Volume 57, Issue 1

The Southwestern College Sun

CAMPUS

A7

Sun named America’s #1 college paper

By Sun Staff

STAR OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE—Brazilian scholar Cleu Villafane is happy to raise her American children and wants to teach Americans the culture and traditions of her native Brazil.

Lessons of the

Pink Dolphin Cleusilene Villafane came to learn about the United States, found love and now teaches Americans about Brazil

By David McVicker and Albert Fulcher Staff Writers

Sometimes during warm starlit evenings in Chula Vista Cleusilene Villafane can see and hear the pink dolphins of the Amazon River frolicking in the churning coffee currents of the planet’s greatest waterway. At times she answers them, but refuses their invitations to return home.

Home is now the Southern California borderlands for the poetic Brazilian scholar and idealist. Villafane, a petite woman of impish charm, left her native land as a student to study America, found love and never returned.

This is no American fairy tale, however.

Like millions of immigrants before her, Villafane struggled mightily in the land of e plurbus unum. She began her American odyssey as a university researcher. She boarded a jumbo-jet and took to the skies for the eight-hour journey to Riverside, New Jersey because there she felt she could acclimate herself to the culture of the U.S. with the support of the area’s sizable Brazilian population.

“There is a very big Brazilian community in Riverside,” she said. “I thought it would be better because it was very close to New York. It was my dream to live close to New York, because there you can see people from all over the world and that’s what I wanted to do.”

Villafane’s early experiences in America were bleak. She suffered severe culture shock and was preyed upon by many of the ex-pat Brazilians she was counting on to help her. She arrived with no money, no prospects for employment and little English. Luckily, she met Ivette Szekely, a native of Hungry who faced a very similar situation. They became fast friends.

“We were the ones who tried our hardest to understand each other,” said Szekely.

“Her native language is Portuguese, mine Hungarian but that didn’t matter. We had patience with each other and figured out what the other was trying to say. We just had to listen carefully.”

Villafane said she was profoundly disappointed with the other New Jersey Brazilians, who seemed to have evolved into Lusophonic versions of The Sopranos.

“They hung around speaking Portuguese, eating Brazilian food all the time,” she said.

“It was like they were wasting their time.

They were here in the United States and they think and live like they’re in Brazil.

They just think about money, money, money all the time. I did not have that ambition. I did not want to earn money to buy things. I wanted to earn money to learn.”

Villafane recalled hitting rock bottom during a period of homesickness when she wanted to send a letter home. Unable to communicate with American postal workers, she asked a roommate for help. The

woman made her pay $10.

Extortionist fees never stopped. She had to pay everybody to help her with anything.

If she needed a ride, $15. Translation help, $20. Villafane grew tired of being used.

She made up her mind to return to Brazil.

“I did not come here to be a rat,” she said.

“I realized in that moment that everything was so difficult. I thought ‘what am I doing here?’ I didn’t come to work as a slave for another Brazilian. I thought maybe I should go back to my country. But I didn’t want to go back because I felt like that would make me a loser.”

She decided it to give it one more try. A Brazilian-American acquaintance offered to help her find a job, for a fee, of course.

She decided to pay her the money to help.

At last, a glimmer of hope.

Villafane was hired to be a caregiver for an elderly woman who was recently widowed. She said she was excited because she thought she would have an opportunity to make a living and learn English at the same time.

It was a tough job because the woman was suffering from depression and Villafane could not speak to her. So she switched to non-verbal communication and sang and danced while working to lighten the mood in the somber household. Eventually the woman began to whistle along with Villafane’s uplifting antics. Then she would hum. Then came the smiles and attempts to sing and dance along.

Villafane was smiling, but not on the inside. She rarely spoke. Lacking the ability to communicate with the woman’s family, the silence made Villafane feel insignificant.

“In all of my entire life, I never felt so please see Villafane pg. A8

Southwestern College’s student newspaper, The Sun, was named National College Newspaper of the Year by the National Newspaper Association of Columbia, Missouri at its annual convention in Phoenix.

“Great college paper,” read the NNA judges comments. “The writing is solid, headlines are compelling, photos are strong, editorial page is insightful (we especially enjoyed Managing Editor Angela Van Ostran’s column), and the sports section is lively. The Sun is what every college paper should strive to be.”

The Sun also received the Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Collegiate Journalism from the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association. A detailed 20-page critique of the newspaper completed by the judges gave The Sun 971 out of 1,000 points.

“I am extremely proud of my talented staff for publishing such outstanding work,” said Amanda Abad, The Sun’s 2012-13 Editorin-Chief. “It is an honor to bring positive national recognition to Southwestern College and Chula Vista.”

The Associated Collegiate Press in Minneapolis awarded individual finalists for writing and reporting for stories done during the 2012 academic year. One of the three finalists for National College Reporter of the Year is Nickolas Furr of SWC. “I was shocked,” said Furr. “I sort of sat there and blinked at the email for a while. Then I realized just how much of an honor this was.

I think this is one of those awards where it really is an honor just to be nominated. I think I’ve done very good work, but I’m not the only one.

I’m just another in a long line of Sun journalists who do very good work.”

The team of Ernesto Rivera, Albert Fulcher and Serina Duarte is a finalist for the Diversity Award for their story “Winning the Race of her Life,” about the near deportation of SWC cross country star Ayded Reyes.

Abad is a national college finalist for sports writing, the only community college student nominated. The awards will be presented next month in New Orleans.

“The nomination is an incredible honor,” said Rivera. “It is a testament to The Sun and the great work and students that come from the program. To be able to write a compelling piece that promoted significant change is a dream come true.”

Precocious teen scholars show youth not wasted by the young

By Daphne Jauregui Arts Editor At the tender age of 15, Carla Stewart would be the youngest student at Southwestern College if it were not for her younger sister, Lara, 14.

Then there is their even younger sister, Edna, 13.

While most of their peers are still in middle school, the brainy Stewart sisters are already rocking SWC’s biology labs. They can recite the periodic table and explain chromosome division even though they are years away from driving or attending an NC-17 film.

Better still, their professors say they are terrific students.

Dr. Nouna Bakhiet, biology professor and director of the SWC Biotechnology Program, said the Stewart sisters have excelled in the bio labs and as college students.

“Carla, Lara and Edna Stewart are indeed a first in my classes,” she said.

“Their most outstanding characteristic is their ability to focus. Although very supportive of each other, these sisters have distinct personalities and function as individuals in the classroom.”

Bakhiet said the trio all engage easily in class discussions and are very

inquisitive.

Rarities for their youth, the Stewarts are also exceptional in that they are home-schooled students who are excelling in college. Home-schooled students generally do not fair well in higher education, but the girl’s father, Dr. Carson Stewart had a different vision.

A former practicing dentist, Stewart, took on the role of teacher soon after a disability rendered him unable to continue his career. He worked for a while as a substitute teacher and learned everything he could about the art and science of teaching.

“I would encourage every person that if there’s any way possible you should home school your kids,” he said. “You can give them a philosophy.”

He took a leap of faith, he said, by transforming their home into a teaching environment.

“Homeschooling was always in the back of my mind,” he said. “I just didn’t have the guts to pull it off but once the disability started kicking in and I couldn’t do dentistry I was just left with nothing else to do.”

After completing some time in public school in Maryland, the Stewart sisters packed their bags and headed to their

Photos By Serina Duarte

PRECOCIOUS, FEROCIOUS—While their peers are in middle school or high school, the brainy Stewart sisters are rocking SWC science labs. (l-r) Edna Stewart, 13, Lara Stewart, 14, and Carla Stewart, 15, are too young to drive, but are already on the road to college degrees.

new home in Houston.

“I was taken out of public school before they were,” said Lara. “My father didn’t know if homeschooling was going to work for us. I did homeschooling and it worked well for me. Not long after that they got homeschooled as well. We did that for a while.”

After being homeschooled for a few years, the sisters enrolled in college

courses to proceed with their educational goals.

Lara has two semesters of college courses under her belt. Carla and Edna in their first semester.

Edna and Lara said they plan on majoring in biology, Carla said she plans to go into dental hygiene.

“We were practically raised in a dental office,” said Lara. “It is only natural that

we pursue the medical route.”

Waking up at home and picking up a textbook soon became an easy routine for the girls. There was no set schedule to follow, simply a willingness to succeed.

“My dad had this thing where he would love to go to libraries and read please see Sisters pg. A9

A8

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 1

Amanda L. Abad and Joaquin Basauri, co-editors

CAMPUS

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

Villafane: Talented Brazilian writer now teaching Americans Continued from Page A7

Courtesy Photos

LIKE A ROLLING STONE— Carol Pullman is a globe-trotting adventurer who is at home on the road. (above) Pullman at the Patala Palace in Tibet, the winter palace of the Dalai Lama. (below) Visiting with a nomadic family in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Lost and found in the journey of life

By Ernesto Rivera Staff Writer

It took Carol Pullman a few years to figure it out, but now she knows. She is a big-thinking American woman accidently born into the body of a repressed Taiwanese female. She has successfully made the transition.

Pullman, the Disability Support Services Test Proctoring Coordinator at Southwestern College, was frustrated with ancient Chinese cultural expectations and limiting views of women, so she immigrated to the United States and never looked back. In America she was finally able to be independent, find opportunities to pursue higher education and develop a self-actualized life of her own. It was not going to happen in her native land, she said.

“Thirty years ago in Taiwan, only 10 percent of high school graduates had a chance to go to college,” she said.

Realizing she would not be one of them, Pullman immigrated to the U.S. in 1979 and enrolled at Southwestern College. At first found it too difficult.

She dropped out. She spent several years in the workforce and earned a good living, but eventually realized there was something missing in her life.

“Something just pushed me back to Southwestern College,” she said.

“But this time I really appreciated the open door Southwestern offered me. I learned to appreciate American’s educational system.”

Higher educational in the United States is vastly different than the system in Taiwan, she said.

“In my culture, they criticize you,” she said. “If you got an 80 percent they’d ask why you didn’t get 100.

Here if you get a 70 percent they encourage you and say ‘that’s great, let’s do better.’ That makes you want to do more.”

Asian culture pressures women to be “traditional” and did not allow her to be an individual thinker, Pullman said. America celebrates individualism and creativity, while Asian cultures value collectivism and conformity. “ You never have that kind of privilege to find yourself,” she said.

“In Asian cultures, for women, they give you a box and you have to stay inside it. Over here I broke all the barriers. I became an individual. I was able to be whatever I wanted to be. When I came to Chula Vista I finally had freedom to find who I was.

This led me to express myself through traveling.”

Pullman said her dream is to travel the whole world. She has a great start and has been to Tibet, India, Turkey, The Czech Republic, Greece and Australia so far. In 2005, she stayed in the Himalayan Mountains for two months.

“It was the trip of my lifetime,” she said. “I feel like life without traveling is like a stone without rolling, like still

water without running.”

Pullman said she prefers traveling by herself because she feels more independent. “ Without immigrating to this country I wouldn’t have been able to (travel),” she said. “I was able to come here and fulfill my dreams.”

Pullman has worked at the office of Disability Support Services for eight years. She began her career at SWC as a DSS student.

“I graduated in the year 2000 with an Associate of Science in Computer Information Systems,” she said. “Even after that I still couldn’t read and write English, so I went back to the basics. I signed up for a personal development class without even knowing that it was a DSS class.”

Enrolling in the class led to DSS Director Dr. Malia Flood offering Pullman a part-time job.

“Over the years I’ve worked my way up to being the test proctoring coordinator,” she said. “This job has taught me a lot about what disabilities are all about. I’ve realized that everyone suffers a disability in some degree and it’s given me a better understanding of people.”

She said she is in charge of coordinating every DSS student who needs accommodations and works with more than 800 instructors and more than 200 students. Pullman speaks with instructors and proctors to give students the most appropriate time, environment and tools in order to succeed at SWC. “You see so many students with vast areas of disability,” said Pullman. “We are here to provide equal opportunities.

Each student has equal opportunities to succeed and an equal opportunity to fail.”

Dr. Fl ood said Pullman is an extremely bright and creative person, but lacked confidence in her English. “ C a r o l w a s a g r e a t s t u d e n t ,” said Flood. “She was curious and very motivated to learn. She asked questions, did all the work, and

was very invested in the learning process. These same characteristics make Carol a great employee. She continues to be passionate about learning and is always looking for ways to improve services for students.”

F l o o d s a i d t h e w o r k Pu l l m a n does is integral for DSS, which serves about 1,200 students.

“Carol coordinates the DSS Test Proctoring Center, communicating with students and faculty to make sure that students receive their test accommodations,” she said. “This involves many steps, including scheduling student exam times, arranging proctors, and obtaining exams from faculty. Carol communicates with students, proctors and faculty and brings the process together in order for students to have their test accommodations.”

Pullman is classically trained in voice and piano, and performs with SWC’s Concert Choir as a soprano. She has performed with the elite choir at the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, France’s Notre Dame Cathedral and in Greece.

“With this group we have something to accomplish together,” Pullman said.

“You contribute one thing and as a whole it comes out beautiful. Every time we rehearse it’s such a treat.”

Choral conductor Dr. Terry Russell said Pullman adds a diverse element to the eclectic choir and assists with recruitment and enrollment of adult students.

“Carol already had excellent musical skills when she joined our choir,” said Russell. “She is a great asset to our ensemble not only for her musical skills but also because of her enthusiastic personality and dedication to the choir community.”

Pullman has been able to travel across the world because of the independence that immigrating to the U.S. gave her. She said she still looks at life as an open road.

“Life is not one meter in front of me,” she said. “It’s a thousand miles.”

stupid,” she said, “because I didn’t say anything. If they were saying something bad, I was smiling. If they were saying something sad, I was smiling. If they said something happened, I was smiling. We had no communication.”

Villafane said she decided it was time to return to Brazil.

A friend convinced her that if she was to leave America, she must say goodbye in American style at a New York City nightclub.

“I said no, I’m not going,” she said, “but I went. That was good because I met my (future) husband that night and I fell in love with him. And then all my plans changed. A year later we got married and I forgot all about my plans, I forgot about wanting to go back to Brazil. I was here.”

Soon the couple relocated to California for her husband’s job with the Department of Homeland Security. Villafane was home, but confessed she still dreamed of the sleepy Amazon tributary town of Itapirapuã, in the state of Goias, Brazil, where she felt she had status and standing in the community.

“I had all this experience in my town and in my country,” she said.

“I was very close to the government.

I was a teacher and I was doing what I loved. I felt I was a professional. I

felt I was someone doing something good in my country. Then I came here, and I was a house cleaner, a caregiver and I realized that I didn’t know how to speak English. And that was a problem that I had to correct, and I am trying.”

She said although she has made a happy home here in the United States, she hopes one day to return to Itapirapuã with her American family and address the goals she had in mind when she made the trek in the first place, to promote equality in education for those who suffer without.

“I would like to make a better world for everybody,” she said. “Not just the ones who have the opportunities to go to college. I would like to reach the ones who could not afford to go to private schools or to college.”

Villafane was a writer in Brazil and a Portuguese-language poet who wrote produced plays. Her creativity is struggling to blossom in the sunlight once again, this time in English. She has written a children’s book about a brave ant traveling through the Amazon rainforest as well as articles for nature journals about river tubing in Itapirapuã and the mysterious pink dolphins of the Amazon River.

Many native Brazilians believe the pink dolphins leave the river and become human gods. Villafane said she now feels she can leave the river and become human again.

“I am a teacher and I came to America so I could teach Brazilians about America,” she said. “Now I think it is my destiny to teach Americans about Brazil.”

CAMPUS

The Southwestern College Sun

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 1

A9

Campus planetarium is losing its star power

By Jose Luis Baylon Staff Writer

Since man’s earliest depiction of the sky in Egypt around 1,500 BC, our need to try and map the incomprehensible vastness that is space has only grown with each technological advancement.

That hunger for answers reached Southwestern College nearly 45 years ago when one of only three planetariums in San Diego County was built on campus. It seems, however, to be a well-kept secret.

“I didn’t know we had a planetarium,” said Amy Anthenill, a marine biology major. “Where is it? On campus?”

With only 21 declared astronomy majors out of about 17,000 students, SWC’s planetarium seems lost in a constellation of other priorities.

Located in building 382, the planetarium is similar in design to projection systems developed by German optical manufacture Zeiss in the 1930s. Using a concave metal sphere system with intricate lenses that beam light through strategically-placed holes representing our neighboring stars, the planetarium is able to display some of the intricacies of space on its curvaceous ceiling. Astronomy Professor Dr. Jeffrey Veal said the planetarium brings the galaxy to Chula Vista.

“People think the planetarium is actually the building,” he said. “In fact, it is the machine itself that makes the planetarium. It displays standard stuff.

The sun, planets, motions of the stars and coordinate systems.”

Veal said the planetarium has not

received an upgrade since the 1960s, even though galactic knowledge has grown immeasurably. Within the last 30 years the human race has mapped the Big Bang’s cosmic microwave background radiation, pierced interstellar space with Voyager I and II, discovered dark matter, found black holes in the center of our galaxy, expelled Pluto as a planet and launched the Kepler satellite, which has identified nearly 900 planets.

Technology used in the more up-todate planetariums has gone digital with the use of thin fiber optics and sophisticated computing systems that can take a perspective inside the actual expansion of the universe.

While astronomers look toward the future, SWC’s planetarium looks retro.

“It looks like you went to the past,” said Janet Mazzarella, dean of the School of Math, Science and Engineering. “It hardly makes the department comfortable presenting the planetarium to the community” Veal said the planetarium gets used “less than a handful of times” each year.

Despite its antiquity, Veal continues to use the planetarium in his courses as a tool to help students understand our place in the universe.

“It’s better than nothing,” he said.

A f e w y e a r s a g o Pr o f e s s o r o f Astronomy Grant Miller attempted to draw attention to our cosmic resource by inviting the community onto campus for a “Planetarium Show.” Miller’s excellent project, unfortunately, drew little community interest, said Veal.

Astronomy, though it holds the secrets of mankind’s future, did not

make the list of 100 best jobs, according to a 2013 U.S. News and World Report survey. It was only was only 44 years ago that humans turned the moon into a destination, igniting the imaginations of millions and turning the eyes of Americans toward the heavens.

Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock should not give up hope. Veal said the planetarium could once again become popular with the community with a little P.R. SWC administrators are supportive, he said.

Using Proposition R funds, SWC will upgrade the math, science and engineering facilities, which includes a new planetarium. Mazzarella said the campus needs to be visionary.

“We need a plan for the future, something that will last for the next 50 years.”

Administrators and faculty have said they are hopeful a more visible location will help market the new planetarium.

Veal said he is excited about the new facility because he wants the planetarium to serve more students.

Mazzarella said she also wants to hear students getting interested in the planetarium. Philosophical biotech professor Dr. Nouna Bahkiet joined the chorus.

“Students need to know there’s more to us than meets the naked eye,” she said. “Understanding space allows students to realize the significance of their existence. It can go inwards or outwards.”

Photos by Marshall Murphy

STARRING ATTRACTION— Dr. Jeff Veal and other science faculty say it is time to replace SWC’s aging planetarium. Once a South County marvel, the 45-year-old device is nearing obsolescence, according to Veal.

Echoes of 9/11 haunt campus memorial service

By Joaquin Basauri Campus Editor

O

n September 11, 2001 Americans woke to the harsh reality that there were people in the world who hated them. This September marks the 12th anniversary of the most devastating loss of life on American soil from foreign attack and the largest loss of rescue personnel in U.S. history.

With help from the Office of Student Activities, the Associated Student Organization hosted a campus memorial. “ It’s i m p o r t a n t f o r e ve r yo n e to remember what happened on September 11th because it had such a huge impact on what is happening

today,” said ASO President Laura Del Castillo. “It’s important to remember where we come from so that we can anticipate where we are going. So it’s good that we are able to have these kind of memorial events.”

SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish delivered an emotional speech about how the tragedy affected her personally and the unyielding demeanor demonstrated by the Citizens of the United States.

“Some nations hated our freedom and our way of life so much that they imposed upon us what they thought would be a crippling event,” she said.

“But what they did not count on was the independence and resilient spirit that lies in each of us Americans.”

Not all students concurred.

“I can’t really agree with that,” said Enrique Cisneros, an administration of justice major. “When you think about all the freedoms we have lost, you can’t help but feel like the terrorists won in some way that day.”

Stephen Bowlin, Fire Science Instructor, reminded the students of the firefighters and police officers who woke up that morning excited to go to work, ready to respond to the scene and the ultimate sacrifice they made.

Bowlin was involved in body recovery on those sad New York days as the rubble was sorted and removed, giving his words impact.

Va l e r i a Bl a k e c o n c l u d e d t h e ceremony with a powerful poem.

Nish said she was impressed by the event.

“I was pleased that the students were able to put this together,” she said. “I just want to thank the students because they did not need prompting or direction to understand that it is important to stop and honor the lives of those people that have been lost, particularly the innocent, in protecting the freedoms that we enjoy every day.”

An Affiliate of The National University System

Make a Career out of Making a Difference WestMed College provides affordable in-classroom instruction and hands-on field training for healthcare careers that are in high demand.

Learn More Today

w w w.we st me dcol le ge.e d u

© 2013 National University 13232

Programs include Paramedic Medical Assisting Health Information Technology

Chula Vista Campus 619.563.7450

Sisters: Too young to drive, but ready for college science classes Continued from Page A7

textbooks,” said Lara. “He would be reading through books and be telling us stuff about the authors so we did have a lot of textbooks around the house.”

Lara said the rigor of college is no trouble for the sisters.

“When we were in public school we did get good grades,” she said “So I can’t imagine not getting good grades or not working on something. That doesn’t even occur to me.”

Self-discipline is not a problem when it comes to finishing schoolwork. Not having too many distractions at home made it easy for the girls to get their work done, they agreed, but they still manage to have fun. At 13, Edna, is just as focused as her older sisters, they reported.

“It’s pretty much just having selfcontrol from the Internet, TV or any other distractions,” Edna said. “When you know you have to study, it’s in your mind. It’s about self-control and organizing your time.”

When they are not busy doing schoolwork, the sisters said they spend their free time much like other teenagers.

“I really like reading,” said Edna.

“I read a lot and I also like cooking.

Sometimes I bake to pass the time and I don’t even eat it.”

Edna’s sisters share her same passion for reading, she said.

“I just like to go on the computer, actually,” said Lara. “I do like to read and hang out with friends.”

Carla also likes to spend her time traveling between states.

“I like to visit friends back home and I also like to read,” she said.

Dr. Stewart, along with his wife Maria, have always been strong supporters of his daughters and the goals they have set for themselves, he said.

“I told them to be open to falling in love with a subject or a major,” he said. “So far they’ve really enjoyed biotechnology.”

Lara said the sisters have embraced their father’s philosophy about new experiences.

“I think it’s fun going to college,” said Lara. “I enjoy the journey just as much as I do the destination.”

A10 The Southwestern College Sun

August 19 - September 13, 2013 Volume 57, Issue 1

ARTS Combating the

Past Story by Daphne Jauregui Arts Editor

F

Marshall Murphy/staff

FACE OF INVISIBLE WOUNDS — A mask made by an anonymous war veteran transitioning back into civilian life shows his pain and struggle.

or thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, coming home did not end their combat.

Warfare rages on in their hearts, their minds and their lives.

Healing was the theme of the provocative Southwestern College “ I n Tr a n s i t i o n ” exhibition at the Campus Art Gallery.

Dozens crowded the gallery, some sitting on the floor to get a closer look at works on display in the gallery patio. Viewers saw murals and facemasks created by combat veterans that were full of rage, confusion and hope.

Some were bright orange, others the darkest grays, allowing a peek into the minds and hearts of the wounded warriors.

Elizabeth Washburn, founder of the non-profit organization Combat Arts, is a professional artist who offers visual arts classes to active and retired veterans who have served in the Iraq and Afghan conflicts.

Combat Arts came to SWC when graphic design professor David Quattrociocchi met Washburn at an art show in Little Italy. “ We talked about it and got permission from the art department and the school to basically get the veterans issues on the map a little bit here at Southwestern College,” said Quattrociocchi, who volunteers as a counselor for veterans.

Washburn said sense of civic duty and respect for veterans inspires her work.

“The main purpose of Combat Arts is to provide an opportunity for veterans to access the arts as means of expression and communication via art classes, museum tours and art exhibits,” she said.

All of the art shown was kept anonymous in order to respect the privacy of the veteran patients.

Washburn said she works with one group of veterans at a time during a five-week time span in hopes of reducing any stress they may have.

One goal is to give others a broader understanding of what our country is committing to when sending out the military to fight wars in foreign lands, she said.

Washburn is also working with SWC’s visual arts department to create an opportunity for student veterans on campus to create a mural for the new Veterans Resource Center.

Anthony A. LoBue, a veteran and former SWC student, said he received an email from the Student Veterans Organization about the event and decided to visit friends and faculty.

“This event is outstanding in its concept and presentation,” he said.

“We need more similar events that promote the healing of veterans who are wounded, visibly and invisibly and also to promote visual arts in ways that are both therapeutic and vocational.”

LoBue, known as “Tony the Vet,” said he wants to see more support for all the veterans and their families through programs such as Combat Arts.

“The three R’s for veteran support are recognition, respect and rewards,” he said.

Combat Arts’ healing power has provided that and more.

> PREVIEW

‘Hairspray’ A stylish look at racial tension in 1960s America

By Kasey Thomas Senior Staff Writer

Theatre students are combing out a few loose ends in their production of “Hairspray,” the punchy musicalcomedy that opens Oct. 16.

Set in 1962, “Hairspray” is based on the edgy John Waters movie that raised issues about race relations, body image and provincialism.

A Broadway musical, “Hairspray” debuted in August of 2002 and won a Tony Award for Best Musical.

SWC’s production will be directed

by Katherine Rodda, a San Diego City College associate professor of dramatic arts.

“We are following the Broadway show,” said Rodda. “Since it was originally written for the stage, it’s the best one for theatre.”

“Hairspray,” the Broadway musical, was written by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. On Broadway it ran from 2002 until 2009 with more than 2,500 shows.

Originally created as a movie

by Waters in 1988, “Hairspray” comments on racial injustices in American society through the lens of Baltimore prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. “Hairspray” follows stout teenager Tracy Turnblad and her dream of being on the local dance program, “The Corny Collins Show.” When Turnblad wins a spot on the show she becomes an overnight celebrity in Baltimore and aims to integrate the show.

SWC’s production of “Hairspray” will feature Shelly Courchaine as Tracy Turnblad, Mitchell Horne as Edna Turnblad, Alex King as Penny Pingleton, Israel Valdivia as Link Larkin, Erick Jimenez as Corny Collins and Marielle Bardos as Amber Von Tussle.

Choreographer Dana Maue said she is excited that SWC is producing a musical.

“I am very happy to be a part of the production,” said Maue.

“Students can expect a high-energy, entertaining and fun musical!”

Led by instructor Debra Nevin, musicians from SWC’s orchestra and concert band will perform the score.

Vocal music instructor Michelle Tolvo-Chan will coach the singers.

“Hairspray” will run Oct. 16-19 and 23-27. For tickets call the Mayan Hall box office at (619) 482-6367.

Talented musician leaves Columbia to create in America J.P. Acosta plans to use his newly-found artistic freedom to spread his love of music throughout the world

C

By Saira Araiza Assistant Arts Editor

Juan Pablo Acosta rankled his parents when he left home to attend Southwestern College. He not only left home, he left his town, his state, his nation, his continent and his hemisphere.

But he never left his dream.

Acosta graduated from high school in his native Colombia and without saying a word to his parents, obtained a U.S. student visa, boarded a jet and flew to el norte. After three generations of lawyers, the idea of a performing artist did not thrill his mom and dad.

“My parents did not agree with me at first,” said Acosta. “But I told them that it was my dream and I did not want to stay in Colombia. They will always be the number one critics and the people that I always want to impress.”

Acosta — J.P. to his friends — said it was his padre’s fault that he became a musician.

“When I was five I fell in love the instant I saw my father play the guitar,” he said. “It was so beautiful that it just felt right.”

Afterward, he said, he could not think of anything else besides mastering that guitar.

“Everyone has a purpose,” said Acosta.

“I have the privilege and the gift of being a tool from which music can flow.”

Music is a feeling, he said, an image and a bond that draws people together.

“It is beautiful when music stops being just mine and my song becomes your song,” he said. “Music is just so beautiful.”

Acosta said he came to America because of this country’s broad array of musical styles. Colombia is corrupt, he said, and he sought a more level playing field.

Acosta has worked with Colombian based Intui Sounds Studios owned by Juan Pablo Guzaman, his closest friend.

Together they recorded his first single called “Believe and Fly.” Acosta has also collaborated with the Governor of Guam, Eddie Calvo, by creating and singing the music for Calvo’s political campaign.

Acosta was accepted to Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of the planet’s most prestigious music colleges. Soon after receiving the good news, however, Acosta said he realized he could not afford to go.

“It was frustrating because I did not have the money,” he said. “Since I was little, I always wanted to go to Berklee, but I felt good with myself because I made it and not a lot of people can say that.”

Acosta said he was recently accepted on scholarship to the Musician´s Institute in Los Angeles.

One of the many skills Acosta has is beat boxing and it earned him a spot in SWC’s Jazz and Vocal Ensemble conducted by Tracy Burklund.

“He is is an important Jazz and Vocal Emsemble member,” she said. “J.P. is a multi-talented student and he loves music, you can definitely tell.”

Assistant director William “B.J.” Robinson is also an Acosta fan.

“J.P.’s personality matches his beat,” said Robinson. “His energy and creativity make his music stand out. He is definitely unique. J.P. is a dancing kind of guy and I think you hear that in his music.”

Robinson said music is not an easy field.

“You have to have a right formula to make it,” he said. “J.P. is on his way to put it together and find the right formula for him.”

Serina Duarte/Staff

A GREAT COLOMBIAN EXPORT — Juan Pablo Acosta felt restricted in his native Colombia, so he came to America for opportunity and artistic freedom. He became a star in the SWC vocal music department and was accepted to the Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles.

Daphne Jauregui, editor

ARTS

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

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013 Vol. 57, Issue 1

A11

> PREVIEW

> REVIEW

Pops concert mostly hits the right notes A hip Shakespearience ‘The Bomb-itty of Errors’ will rap The Bard

By Daphne Jauregui and Fernanda Gutierrez Staff Writers

David McVicker/Staff

HERE’S TO YOU, MR. ROBINSON— Southwestern College’s Chamber singers, led by assistant B.J. Robinson, performs the Kenny Loggins classic “Footloose” during the fall Pops Concert.

By Victoria Leyva Staff Writer

Like the catchy tunes they sung, vocal music students hit many highs and a few lows in the annual Southwestern College Pops Concert at Mayan Hall.

Sometimes silly, but mostly sublime, SWC choirs joined forces for a Sunday afternoon stroll down a musical path through a rose garden both fragrant and thorny.

A mostly-female chamber singers ensemble performed “Call Me a Teenage Dream, Maybe!” arranged by B.J. Robinson. Its energy was high, but the choir’s nervousness was apparent in the forced smiles and stiff attempts to dance to the rhythm. Chamber Singer members awkwardly lumbered around on the stage to share the microphones and attempted to keep a smooth melody. Singers were enthusiastic but cramped, and teamwork surrendered to competition. Each performer was trying to outshine the other and at points the performance sounded chaotic.

Things improved when soloist Victoria Ortiz performed “Stupid Cupid” and hammed it up for the audience. Enthusiastically flirting with the crowd, Ortiz moved smoothly and was animated. The coquettish Ortiz enamored the toe tappers with her sheer charm.

As the Chamber Singers flooded the entire stage for its last song, a dreadful drum machine pumped out the beat to the 1980s hit “Footloose.” Its stale sound cheapened the choir’s best efforts.

Despite the mechanical drumbeat, the Chamber Singers gave it a good effort. Members were enthusiastic and danced with each other, but to no avail.

“Footloose” has been done to death and should be retired along with the drum machine.

The most intimate performance of the night was a duet featuring Sara Martinez and J.P. Acosta, members of the Jazz Vocal Ensemble. Singing “Stop This Train” by John Mayer, Martinez’s voice was soothing and beautifully subtle. She looked at Acosta as he picked at his guitar and he returned her gaze with a smile. His voice was a slightly higher pitch than Martinez’s, but together it sounded ethereal. It was easy to feel the importance of this song to the performers. Acosta and Martinez created a connection with the audience and made their performance much more meaningful.

Soloist Mitchell Horne had a tough act to follow, but he was up to the challenge. When he began to sing the walls and ceiling of crumbling Mayan Hall melted away, transporting the audience to a small jazz club. Horne sat on a stool and captured the audience in a way great performers do. Horne had a distinct voice, sounding like a cross between Elton John and Michael Bublé, singing jazz as though he already lived an entire lifetime.

It became nearly impossible to ignore the sheer talent that erupted once the Concert Choir took the stage. A powerful and epic performance of “Dies

Irae” from “Requiem” by Giuseppe Verdi astounded the audience. It was inspiring to hear a song so revered and commanding performed so expertly at SWC. A forceful performance left members of the audience wide eyed in surprise.

Another astonishing number by the concert choir was “Gradual” from “Misa Azteca,” featuring soloist Michelle Courchaine, who sang in Nahuatl, an Aztec dialect, that made her sound like an indigenous angel. Her voice, so pure, clear and powerful, pierced the air like a church bell tolling at dawn on a clear Sunday. Courchaine took the entire concert to a transcendent level the audience was not expecting.

All three choirs crammed onto and in front of the stage to perform the U2 hit “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Unfortunately the effort to create a unifying song and showcase all of the talent lapsed into an overcrowded mess. Chamber Singers were trying to outshine jazz singers while the Concert Choir looked slightly bored while perched on the stands at the back of the stage. At points it sounded as if someone was beat boxing and one performer was dancing a bit too enthusiastically when she should have focused more on her singing.

Despite the chaos there was an enthusiasm and passion for music that every performer expressed to the best of their abilities. It was an afternoon filled with the love for music and SWC students reaching for beauty.

Recurring beat patterns, DJ scratch tracks and boastful rhyming are not included in William Shakespeare’s “ T h e C o m e d y o f E r r o r s .” Bu t the Bard would doubtlessly love “The Bomb-itty of Errors,” a rap adaptation of his shortest play.

Originally written by a team that calls itself The Q Brothers, “Bombitty” will be directed by Ruff Yeager and feature students in his Theatre Arts 127 class.

When two sets of identical twins, Antipholus and Dromio, get split up at birth, they find themselves wrapped in constant mistaken identity. Unaware of the existence of the other, one pair of Antipholus and one Dromio grow up wealthy in the town of Ephesus while the other are not as lucky in the town of Syracuse.

Yeager said the adaptation is sure to have the audience bursting with laughter.

“The whole play is rapped,” he said. “It is modern rhyme and it’s very funny. I don’t think it’s ever been done in San Diego.”

Audience members will sit on the stage around the action, arena style.

“Some of the show is constructed to be like a concert, so the audience gets involved,” Yeager said. “There is a definite relationship, a dialogue between the audience and the actors going on.”

One of the challenges of working on this production was working around student schedules, said Yeager.

“If we did the traditional nighttime rehearsals it left out students that have nighttime jobs,” he said. “So I thought what if we scheduled it like a class. After couple of months in we begin to add rehearsal times. We decide at a time that was convenient for everyone and it seemed to work quite well.”

Yeager said one of his hopes is that the students learn the dynamics of performance.

“It will have an ambulant, joyful and whimsical feel to it,” he said. “I hope that they can grab hold of that essence and play with it and have a really good time.” “ The Bombitty of Errors” will run Dec. 11-15 in Mayan Hall.

joaquin Junco/Staff

Super talent Stacy Barnett admitted to SWC music Hall of Fame

By Gonzalo Quintana Assistant News Editor

Don’t let the blonde pigtails and librarian’s glasses fool you. Stacey Barnett can rock.

And rap.

And scat.

And jam.

Former Southwestern College super singer Stacey Barnett is petite but powerful.

Her willowy frame houses a thunderous voice.

“Some people seem to be surprised that I project so well because I’m a smaller person,” she said.

Barnett is a big talent with a big voice.

She is a sultry Jazz singer, a roaring rocker, a perky pop artist and the college’s reigning hip hop and rap champion.

Former SWC music major and Barnett fan Darrell Pearson said his colleague can do it all.

“Stacey has one of those voices that no matter what she sings you’re going to like it,” he said. “She’s always experimenting with music. Everything she does is musical.”

Barnett’s shy demeanor can also cause some to mistake her for someone uncomfortable in public forums. She is a chameleon who can seem shy, but Barnett has an inner rocker chick that can take over.

After excelling at SWC, Barnett transferred to SDSU where she is majoring in music.

SWC music instructor Tracy BurklundBecker is a mentor to Barnett who has seen her blossom.

“Stacey is capable of anything,” she said.

“She is driven and destined to succeed.”

Pearson said Barnett is ready for her next step.

“She’s learned everything she could from SWC and it definitely prepared her to go on to SDSU,” he said. “I think she’s gonna go on to even greater things after that.”

With a résumé of classes that illustrates her passion for music, Barnett actually started SWC as a biology major. After two semesters Barnett unleashed her passion for music. She enrolled in Concert Choir, World Music and Jazz Vocal Ensemble, which requires an audition.

Fascinated by the anthropological aspect of music, Barnett joined the college’s renowned African hand-drumming group.

“I would like to travel and work with different cultures,” she said. “I’ve never heard the traditional or the folk music from a culture that I was just like ‘Ugh, what is this?’ I really like it. Even if it’s not something that I prefer, it’s something that I find interesting.”

Professor of Music Todd Caschetta said Barnett was always around the music building. Her responses in class were always well thought out and intelligent, he said.

Besides intangible factors, success requires devotion, said Burklund-Becker.

“Not only do you have to be talented, but you have to possess the passion to perform,” she said. “Stacey has a passion for music.”

Each music genre is an idiom, containing its own symbols, verbiage and expressions, Barnett said.

“I think it is a language,” she said.

“There is a technical aspect and I guess

you could compare it to actually learning a language and becoming fluent in it. I like it when people compare music to a language because it is a form of communication.”

One of her earliest singing memories is when her mother would have her sing “The Colors of the Wind” from “Pocahontas.”

“I don’t remember how much I liked it then,” she said. “But I know that I liked singing in my free time.”

Her father was also a great influence, she said, and presented her with her first instrument, a mini keyboard he won in a raffle. Her innate ability to understand music was apparent.

“I didn’t know anything about reading music,” she said. “But I would learn how to play one-handed melodies by ear.”

Before moving on to SDSU Barnett was inducted into the SWC Choral Department Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed upon few. Barnett said she has no idea how she was nominated and was caught off guard when she was honored during a choral concert last semester.

Barnett recently joined the metal core band Thirty 30, composed mostly of old middle school friends. They have performed at The Ocean Beach Playhouse, and are in the process of writing and recording their own songs.

She also performed at The 38th Annual Nicky Awards, a ceremony honoring those who contribute to the gay community.

A soprano one, Barnett is not even remotely close to hitting her highest notes yet, insist her friends. The Voice of SWC has gone to an even bigger stage.

Serina Duarte/ Staff

PETITE WOMAN, HUGE TALENT — Singer/musician Stacey Barnett may be one of the most allaround talented students in SWC history. She was recently inducted into the Performing Arts Hall of Fame.

A12

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013 Vol. 57, Issue 1

The Southwestern College Sun

ARTS

> REVIEW

Summer Wave shows great music is a day at the beach

Talented quartet kicks off concert series with an irresistable tribute to America’s rollicking music of the summer

By Fernanda Gutierrez Assistant Arts Editor

As the summer sun set on Southwestern College, the innovative s u r f r o c k b a n d Su m m e r Wa v e transported students to the sunsplashed California coast of the 1960s when the Beach Boys, Gidget and surf guitar rode a wave of popularity. It was a great trip.

Opening numbers “Walk Don’t Run” and “Mr. Moto” melted away the worries of the day like a crimson sunset. “ Wipe Out,” the classic guitar jam of the shore with the epic drum line, spotlighted Summer Wave drummer Fred Lee. His propulsive solo was a shot of adrenaline and flicked on the dancing switch. Students dusted off some beach-era boogie and mixed in some tasty hip hop moves.

The theme song from the 1969 surf film masterpiece, “The Endless Summer,” was another highlight as the music crested smoothly over the audience as a left break in Tahiti.

Oldies were goodies, but the real fun began when Summer Wave performed its original songs. “Return to Mando’s” featured guitarist Rick Wunderli and bassist Jon Hedberg channeling Kennedy Administration surf rock vibe. Saxophonist/keyboard player

Karen Tome/staff

TIMELESS AS THE SEA — Summer Wave left an SWC audience stoked with its blend of nostalgic and contemporary surf music. (l-r) Tim Nunnick, Fred Lee, Rick Wunderli and Jon Hedberg ushered out the summer in style.

Tim Nunnink added a modern touch that elevates Summer Wave above other surf rock bands that survive solely on nostalgia.

A tribute to science fiction movies

called “Mutant Surfers from Space” was fun, fun, fun ‘til daddy took the spaceship away. Any space aliens in the audience surely jumped out of their seats to get their groove on —

humans, too.

After its cover of “Boss” by The Rumblers, the band’s search for the perfect wave had come to a glorious foamy end. Summer Wave walked off

the end of its board and on to the warm sand of a grateful audience.

Perfect wave.

Perfect day.

Great gig.

Fall Arts Preview OCTOBER 16-19, 23-26, 27 Hairspray The Broadway Musical 8 p.m.

$8 Students/Seniors/Staff 12 General Admission

OCTOBER 17-

NOVEMBER 12

Tears of Endearment, Post Retirement Survey Exhibition by Bob Matheny 11 a.m. & 6 p.m. SWC Art Gallery

OCTOBER 30

Chamber Music for Winds and Strings, featuring members of the San Diego Symphony 7:30 p.m. Room 801

August 19 - September 13, 2013 — Volume 57 Issue 1

The Southwestern College Sun

SPORTS

Taking his best Shot

By Amanda Abad Campus Editor

AMANDA ABAD/STAFF

DRIVING TOWARDS HIS GOALS — Hassan Farah has survived genocide, civil war and racism to become a college basketball star with a bright future.

Driving the lane for the Southwestern College basketball team, Hassan Farah has taken a few elbows and his share of pushing and shoving.

Cakewalk. Life off the court is far more challenging.

Farah is a Somali refugee and a Muslim.

He escaped civil war and death marches in Africa, but faces racism in a land that can play rough with Muslims. He is a newly-minted American who has lived as a tumbleweed, rolling across the continent until he put down roots in Chula Vista.

At four years of age, Farah left war-torn Somalia for Atlanta and finally ended up in San Diego with his grandmother.

“I thought I was in heaven,” he said. “ Eve r y t h i n g w a s s o d i f f e re n t . It w a s civilized here. There were paved streets and lights everywhere. Everything was so convenient. I was living the good life. Now I’m Americanized and spoiled, I sometimes forget how good I have it.”

He has not seen his parents since he left Somalia and does not know them well.

“If I were to see them now I wouldn’t know how to react,” he said. “I mean, how would you act if you went to visit people that you haven’t seen in 18 years? These people are my parents, but I don’t know them like that.”

Farah’s parents currently live in Kenya and are trying to leave because of escalating violence. He said he talks to his mother three times a week on the phone.

“It’s weird to talk to them,” he said. “I do things at 100 percent because of them, so I can help them. It’s really tough on me. I work at Delta Airlines at 3:50 a.m., get off at 9 a.m. and go to school the rest

of the day. Earlier this semester, I’d have basketball games, too. I always thought, if I got more rest, I could play better, but I have to sacrifice. I have to support my mother somehow.”

Farah said he tells his teammates how lucky they are that their families come to watch them play every game.

“My grandmother only went to one of my games and that was for senior night in high school,” he said. “I’d play like Michael Jordan if my parents were here to watch me play.”

Farah said he will play basketball with the Somalian national team throughout Europe for the summer and plans on transferring to a D-1 university in the near future.

After everything he has experienced, he has continued to stay focused on the goals he has set for himself.

“You learn a lot when things don’t go your way,” said Farah. “You have to suffer to get that reward in the end.”

Farah said he can speak four languages (English, Ethiopian, Swahili and Kenyan) but noted that English was the hardest to learn. He is half-Somalian and halfEthiopian, but admitted not being in touch with his native cultures.

“I’m too Americanized now, but knowing where I’m from, my background and what my culture practices is enough for me,” said Farah. “My culture is very tribal. All the different groups of people hate each other (in Somalia), that’s why I never got into it.”

A 21-year-old, 6-foot guard, Farah is a business major at Southwestern College, but he said his ultimate goal is to become an orthodontist.

“There are a lot of people (in Africa) with please see Farah pg. B2

High-scoring Jaguars stalk conference crown

Serina Duarte/Staff

TRIPPED UP— Sophomore Midfielder Ruben Escobar beats East LA College goalie Juan Escobar to score a game-tying goal. The match ended in a 2-2 tie.

By John Domogma Assistant Sports Editor

Soccer — the Beautiful Game — looks even better when you are winning. Southwestern’s pitch has been a lovely place recently.

Head Coach Cem Tont’s Jaguars roared home with their sixth victory by whipping Moorpark College, 3-2, in a come-frombehind victory.

Moorpark College had the Jags on the ropes with a 2-0 first half lead.

It did not last.

In the 46th minute SWC striker Marco Carrillo-Leon capped a beautifully structured counter-attack with SWC’s first goal.

Carrillo-Leon was not done. He netted a long-shot goal to tie the game.

As the clock ran down forward Omar Hernandez ran in and smoked a left footer

for the 3-2 victory.

“I was a little bit nervous because this is my first game,” said defender Andre Diaz, “but the result was good.”

“Good” was good enough for a 3-1 win against Cypress College. SWC fell behind in the second minute of the game and endured a jittery 34 minutes before striker Nico Ferrero fired the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. Carrillo-Leon stunned Cypress one minute later with the go-ahead goal. Ferrero sealed the 3-1 win with a goal in the 61st minute.

“We try to prepare for what we do best and have the guys perform,” said former assistant Sergio Vilalva. “In soccer, the game is the best teacher.”

Even in the almost unbearable heat, striker Carrillo-Leon kept his cool against the Norco

Mustangs.

Carrillo-Leon scored the opening goal in the 9th minute and then scored three more in a 6-2 thrashing.

“Besides being physically and emotionally prepared, I try to prepare mentally and have a focused mind before I play,” said CarrilloLeon.

SWC took on the Palomar College Comets in a battle of wits. Carrillo-Leon proved the most witty. He fired the ball to the back of rival net on the 9th minute and another on the 61st. Less than a minute later he had a hat trick.

Ferrero scored in the 72nd minute to cap a dominating 4-0 win.

A tough squad from San Bernardino gave the Jags all they could handle.

Trailing the first half by two goals, the

SWC squad rallied for a 2-2 draw against the Wolverines.

At the Mount SAC Tournament the Jags faced the defending and Northern California State champs, Mount San Antonio College.

SWC won first the game of the tournament against third ranked Taft in a 1-0 victory. Mt SAC though, was ready for the tired SWC crew and romped to a 5-0 win.

“What we have here is two different pictures,” said Tont. “In one we have a fantastic performance and in the other one we were clearly outplayed.”

With a 6-3-1 record, the Jaguars are in playoff contention. Tont said his team is talented but needs to keep improving.

“We have to improve the momentum of the game,” he said. “That is the challenge we are going to see in the next month.”

B1

The

Give Go and

DANIEL GUZMAN

Time to pay star college athletes

A

n $871.6 million pie sits on the windowsill of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and athletes from all over the country can only get a whiff. When they try to take a bite there is a penalty.

Athletic programs across the c o u n t r y h a ve b e e n s e ve re l y punished for violating the amateur clause, which prohibits players from gaining benefits from an agent, their likeness or licensed products like jersey sales.

This has created a system of dirty money and corruption that is wide spread, unfair and un-American.

Former USC Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush bit into the forbidden pie and his alma mater paid a heavy price. USC lost so many scholarships that a oncemighty program slid into a swamp of mediocrity.

D.J. Fluker, the San Diego Chargers 2013 first-round pick, allegedly received improper benefits while attending the University of Alabama. Now the NCAA has his alma mater backed into a corner, with its 2012 national championship season in peril.

Never mind that Fluker was so destitute when he started college that he lived in his car.

For the first time, however, college athletes are starting to push back.

Players are beginning to understand their value and have clearly, through their actions, expressed the desire to seek compensation for their labor.

Athletes in college work like professionals, train like professionals and are expected to perform the duties of a full-time college student without proper financial compensation.

Florida Gators jerseys with #15 and USC #5 jerseys sold millions, but Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush never saw a cent. That’s like not paying Michael Jordan for selling underwear or not compensating Elton John for using his songs on “Glee.”

Meanwhile, the NCAA recently signed a $10.8 billion deal with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting for the rights to televise games.

In 2011, Long Horns Network at the University of Texas signed a 20-year $300 million contract with ESPN. Texas players will likely never see a penny.

A free education may seem like an adequate compensation for an elite college athlete, but in a time where employment is never guaranteed, a degree seems small compared to the billions on the table.

It is exploitative that college athletes risk their bodies as gridiron gladiators while universities exploit their sweat and blood under the banner of “nonprofit” and “tradition.”

The NCAA should allow those players who have market value to capitalize on it.

Athletes would be allowed to receive benefits for their likeness through signing bonuses, endorsement deals and product sales, all supervised by a financial coordinator already in place at most major universities.

Eliminating such strict rules would fair well for the NCAA. Scandals would disappear and marketing of star athletes would elevate visibility and profits.

There is nothing more American than a free marketplace. Not even college football.

The Give & Go can be reached at TheSWCGiveandGo@gmail.com.

B2

Nicholas Baltz, editor

SPORTS

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013—Vol. 57, Issue 1

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

David McVicker/Staff

PICK SIX—(above) Freshman linebacker Blake Wilson returns an interception 65 yards for a score with teammates Daniel Castro and Nick Galatis covering his flanks. (right) Sophomore running back Diderot “Junior” Nemorin finishes a big gain down the sideline. Southwestern College defeated West Los Angeles College, 58-28.

Jaguars football looks strong in defense of conference championship

By Colin Grylls Staff Writer

After last season’s memorable 10-1 Mountain Conference championship, the Southwestern College football team opened the 2013 season ranked 15th in the state, but also a major rebuilding project. A high-octane offense that led the state with 559.8 yards and 45.3 points per game in 2012 lost all 11 of its starters.

Someone forgot to tell the Jaguars as they lit up the scoreboard against a strong West Los Angeles College team in a runaway 58-27 season opener.

Quarterback Frank Foster, who came off the bench to lead SWC to the 2012 American Championship Bowl and earn the game’s Offensive MVP award, had 415 total yards (281 passing, 108 rushing) and four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing). Running back Cedrick Agyeman ran for 134 yards

and a TD, and running back Junior Nemorin gained 72 yards and scored two TDs on only six carries. Wide receiver Cameron Lee racked up 108 receiving yards. Lee said the move to a new position gave him more opportunity to get involved.

“Now I play outside, I can cover for Bryant Mitchell and Vernon Johnson,” said Lee. “It doesn’t matter where they put me, I get the job done.”

SWC’s offensive line held strong, limiting the Wildcats to one sack and opening up enough holes for the team to total 343 rushing yards. It effectively neutralized West L.A.’s star tackle Dayan Dunn, who is rated as a two-star recruit by Rivals.com.

“A lot of the new offensive starters played a lot last year,” said head coach Ed Carberry. “30 plays a game.”

While the offense is reforming, the defense returns many key playmakers,

including the 2012 Mountain Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Jeremy Burgos, and All-State linebacker Khaalid Abdullah. Safety Daniel Castro is back after recording 41 tackles last year and looks to anchor the secondary. Defensive lineman Jalal Yousofzai led the conference with seven sacks last year. Lineman Alfonso Hampton, listed at 6’6” 300 lbs., is being recruited by universities across the country.

Hampton showed why he is such a highly touted recruit by blocking an extra point attempt against West L.A. Burgos led the team with seven tackles and freshman linebacker Blake Wilson returned an interception 65 yards for a touchdown.

By no means were the Jags flawless.

SWC’s defense played well, limiting a West L.A. team that averaged 493 yards per game last year to 326, but

Farah: Refugee survives violence, shines on the college basketball court Continued from Page B1

Amanda L. Abad/Staff

DON’T LOOK BACK—Former SWC men’s basketball guard Hassan Farah blows by a Pasadena City College defender on the way to a score.

“There are a lot of people (in Africa) with messed up teeth,” he said. “But braces are expensive. I want to help people. I want to go back to Somalia and open a few free dental clinics there.”

Farah discovered basketball in the seventh grade. When he first played competitively he was surprised how well he did. As his skills improved, he joined travel teams and was able to play around the country.

Basketball is both sanctuary and battleground.

“I feel relaxed, yet anxious when I’m on the court,” he said. “Basketball is so many things rolled into one. It’s like a chess game because I have to anticipate the other person’s move.

But it’s like playing music, because the team has to be smooth and on rhythm.”

Teammate Dominique Miller has been playing basketball with Farah since high school.

“He is the same guy on and off the court,” Miller said. “Hassan is dedicated, a hard worker and a good leader. He just wants to do whatever it takes to win.”

Farah said his high school basketball coach punished him by making him join the cross-country team as a freshman. Although he completed the season, he said no to pursuing crosscountry any further.

“I like playing team sports,” said Farah. “I like having a shoulder to lean on and people I get along with.

I didn’t really like cross-country because it focuses too much on the individual. But I did well. I beat

Amanda L. Abad/Staff

they were susceptible to the big play.

The Wildcats scored on a 93-yard kick return, a-33 yard shovel pass, a 37-yard run, and a 1-yard pass that was set up by a 44-yard run.

Turnovers also hurt. Agyeman lost a fumble and Foster had a pass picked off

by West L.A. cornerback Chris Glover.

With 17 rushes, Foster was quick to leave the pocket.

“A lot of the runs weren’t designed,” he said. “It’s just when I’m unsure, I run.”

SWC also cost itself 137 yards thanks to 15 penalties.

“We stopped ourselves two or three times (due to penalties),” said Carberry.

“We’re not going to suddenly stop making mistakes.”

SWC has one pleasant problem, deciding who should be the kicker, freshmen Anthony Herrera or Van Saban. Herrera made a 47-yard field

goal look easy in practice and in the team’s scrimmage he kicked one from 52 yards out. Saban kicked a 48 yarder in the same scrimmage. They split the kicking duties against the Wildcats, with Herrera making all three of his extra point attempts. Saban converted both of his extra points, as well as a 28-yard field goal.

Carberry said he was happy with the win, but said there are two goals he remains focused on.

“One is transferring every eligible sophomore football player to a university,” he said. “The second is playing at the absolute highest level we can compete.

If we take care of those things, winning seems to come along with it.”

If the Jaguars can maintain their performance while cutting down on the mental mistakes, both goals are certainly within reach. So is another conference championship.

out a lot of guys. The cross-country coach said it would be easier for me to get scholarships for cross-country but I said no, my passion was for basketball.”

Farah almost lost his basketball career—and his life—due to a brutal attack just outside his San Diego home when he was a junior at Crawford High School. He said he stepped outside of his house and someone clubbed him on the back of the head.

“I was in a coma for a day,” said Farah. “I had daylong headaches for months, and my body wasn’t moving like I wanted it to. I was in rehab for a month, and two months later, I came back but not fully. It broke my heart that I couldn’t play basketball.”

Farah said the motive was never established and the crime remains unsolved. He said he does not know if he was attacked for his race, nationality, religion or for money. He never saw the perpetrator.

After a game in his senior year, Farah said he woke up with shoulder pain. He went to the doctor for an MRI and was placed on six months of rehab. When he felt strong enough to play again Farah tried out for the National Junco League in Nebraska.

Playing basketball against other Californians was easy, it was more of a challenge to play against ballers from the East Coast and basketball-crazy states in the Midwest.

“On the East Coast, there’s a lot more talent and more travelling,” he said. “It’s very competitive. More physical, fast paced and everyone gets to the bucket. They don’t do jump shots. On the West Coast basketball players are better shooters.”

Moving to Columbus, Nebraska was a shock, he said. Living in a small town with a lot of people who were not used to African-Americans, immigrants or Muslims was challenging.

“Everyone knows the guy with an Afro,” said Farah. “It snowed a

lot. I became a man when I lived in Nebraska. It was hard having to live on my own. It was hard to deal with a lot of people being racist toward me.”

Farah said he wished more people b e t t e r u n d e r s t o o d t h e Mu s l i m community.

“The U.S. used to be so diverse and understanding,” he said. “But after 9/11 it got complicated. People associate being Muslim with being a bad guy, that we’re the bad people because of our faith.”

Since 9/11 the American-Muslim community reported “more than half – 55 percent – say it is been more difficult being Muslim in the U.S.,” according to a 2011 Pew Research Center study. Discrimination and hostility were not uncommon to the Muslims and groups who share similar characteristics to the Muslim community. Since 2001 there has been a 1,700 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes, according to the FBI. In 2010 the FBI reported 160 anti-Muslim hate crimes. “It was the highest level of anti-Muslim hate crimes since 2001, the year of the Sept.

11 attacks, when the FBI reported 481 anti-Muslim hate crimes,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“Too many people believe what they see on TV,” said Farah. “Muslim is a faith that teaches discipline through religion. It keeps me level.

I do see hope, though. The younger generations of America are more understanding.”

After playing basketball in Nebraska for a season Farah came back to San Diego County and played at SWC. Head basketball coach John Cosentino taught him discipline, he said, but there is one thing that coach told him that really stuck with him.

“If you make excuses now, you’re going to make excuses the rest of your life,” he said. “That quote really stuck with me and that’s probably the best thing Coach Cos taught me.”

SPORTS

The Southwestern College Sun

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013—Vol. 57, Issue 1

B3

Lady Jaguars make a splash in thrilling season debut

Serina Duarte/Staff

WATER WARRIORS—(above) Freshman goalie Nicole Sendt stops a fierce shot on goal for the Lady Jags. (right) Freshman driver Kelly Micallef uses her left hand to fire in a goal against Palomar.

By Alma Hurtado Staff Writer

Cocky Palomar College water polo players hopped in the pool with a struggling program, but ended up being the team that struggled. Even though the Comets eked out a 12-11 nail biter victory, Southwestern College women had sent a message.

“We have a really good team this year,” said driver Bailey Garcia. “We really support each other.”

Lady Jaguars driver Lauren Broyles set an aggressive tone when she shot past her defender to score and gave SWC an early

lead. She was quick to share credit.

“I couldn’t have been able to score without the good passes and communication from my team,” she said.

The match came down to the final moments.

Broyles took possession with only 36 seconds left, juked three defenders and scored to make it a 12-11 game.

Palomar though, was able to run out the clock.

Harper loves to win, she said, but took some satisfaction in the close match.

“I am very proud of my athletes,” said

coach Jennifer Harper. “I feel hopeful for this season and my girls.”

All-conference driver Kelly Micallef said she is also hopeful.

“It’s like we’re sisters,” she said. “We all know each other even outside of the sport.

Whether it’s going out for lunch or just hanging out, this helps our chemistry in the water.”

Chemistry is more than H20, said Harper. Talent, desire and communication need to mesh.

The first game is where we see what we need to work on,” she said.

Pablo Pedroza/Staff

Black belt can lick opponents, not to mention advanced math

Photos By Serina Duarte

MASTER OF THE MAT AND MATH—Thomas Blamey has six black belts, is a Tae Kwon Do master and a math whiz. He teaches martial art classes at Point Loma Nazarene University, Mira Costa College and now Southwestern College.

By Itzel Alonso Assistant Viewpoints Editor

JOIN mtvU FOR FUN GAMES AND A CHANCE TO WIN COOL PRIZES! THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH JAGUAR WALK | 11:00 - 3:00PM

Math instructor Thomas Blamey has a different belt for each day of the workweek and one for the weekend.

They are all black.

Blamey can lick any equation and most folks he runs up against. He holds black belts in six forms of martial arts and is a Tae Kwon Do master. This semester he is splitting time between the math lab and the dojang, a formal training hall.

“I have always been fascinated by martial arts, it is a great medium to give back,” he said.

SWC has not had martial arts classes since the retirement of Professor Art Stone. Blamey has changed that.

Blamey graduated from Marysville Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Central Washington University. He said he planned on teaching math, but instead went to work for Science Applications International Corporation, a leading scientific engineering systems firm.

Even decades later, teaching still beckoned.

“After many years in corporate life I semi-retired and started teaching for fun, which turned into more of a full-time venture after the Great Recession,” he said.

He took a Tae Kwon Do class while Contreras said. “He’s great with his attending SDSU for his Master’s students.” degree in statistics in 1994.

Blamey teaches mar tial ar ts at “After getting involved in Tae Kwon Point Loma Nazarene University and Do in my mid-20s, I sort of got Mira Costa College. He serves as addicted to the rush of the chief actuary at several sport and the benefits that insurance companies and came from it, like safety,” is the founder and vice “I sort of he said. chair of Chung Do Kwan got addicted Martial Arts, Inc. Blamey said he is not the most accomplished fighter “As you get older, you to the rush at home. Blamey’s fiancée, gain much skill in time of the sport Christi Robells, made the management,” he said. and the 1980 and 1984 Tae Kwon “Certainly we all have 24 Do Olympic teams. He was hours in a day.” benefits helping her to train for the Blamey recently became that came 2008 Olympics, but she chief instructor at the had to abandon the quest.

Ocean Beach Martial Arts from it, like “She was not able to School. safety.” c o m p e t e i n s p a r r i n g ,” “This fall semester I will he said. “She was on a be teaching two Tae Kwon full-ride scholarship at Do classes, beginning and Thomas Blamey Po i n t L o m a Na z a r e n e intermediate,” he said.

SWC Math University and needed to “They will be offered as attend the nationals for one class on Saturdays Instructor cross country the same from 10 a.m. to 12:40 weekend as the Tae Kwon p.m. Eighty percent of Do competition.” the time in the classes will In addition to six black belts, Blamey focus on the fundamentals of striking said he has taught math at seven and what to do after you’ve been hit.” colleges.

Blamey said he will also teach Tae Alexander Contreras, a film and art Kwon Do techniques, endurance, major, said he liked Blamey’s Math 35 strength, flexibility and safety. He and 45 courses. “Whenever we have a can also review the quadratic formula problem he’s always there to help us,” after class.

B4

Aug. 19 - Sept. 13, 2013 — Vol. 57, Issue 1

BACKPAGE

The Southwestern College Sun

Big wheels keep on turning Photos by Serina Duarte

ON A ROLL— (above)Wheelchair athletes take aim during an archery competition. Travis, 7, gives a golf swing. (far r) Basketball players Jessica Feria, 15, and Taylor Pedroza, 17, roll into action.

GOOD DAY FOR THE BEAUTIFUL GAME — Wheelchair soccer standouts Caleb, 12, and Alejandro, 11, play hard and share a laugh. (r) Jose Estrada gets a good bounce.

By John Domogma Assistant Sports Editor

Southwestern College’s main campus was host to the 27th Annual Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp.

Organized by the Adaptive Sports and Recreation Association (ASRA), this event is designed to help improve the quality of life for kids with disabilities by exposing them to a wide variety of sports.

For the past 26 years, SWC has been helping kids ages four through 18 get exposed to sports including scuba diving, rugby, archery, tennis, basketball, and bocce ball in the efforts of inculcating in them change that

comes from an active life style.

Energy was high and the vibe was positive this summer as the camp kicked off August the 8th for the weekend.

Children enjoyed the hot summer in the pool, learned some of the basics of archery and bocce ball and got to enjoy some of the more competitive sports like soccer, basketball, and tennis bringing the competitor spirit in everyone that entered those courts and fields.

With the sun in sync with the weekend, this chunk of fun had a wonderful closure on Saturday where friends and family shared their great experiences with a delicious barbecue and picture show.

John Domogma/staff