Spring 2015: Issue 7

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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

Viva la Dance Pg. A12

Dropping In Pg. A8

Volume 58, Issue 7

theswcsun.com

CSEA president receives threat

March 29 - May 15, 2015

Identity Melissa Rodriguez wins election as 2015-16 ASO President/Student Trustee theft hits campus employees

By Jaime Pronoble Senior Staff Writer

A letter threatening the life of Southwestern College CSEA President Andre Harris and his family was mailed to his home on April 14. Harris said there is an investigation underway and he could not give details about the letter, but he said he thinks the threat is related to a letter to the editor he wrote published March 22 in The Sun. In his letter, Harris argued that working conditions for African-Americans were not as bad as a previous letter published in The Sun by a group of custodians and an employee had claimed. “Right now I can’t comment on recent events because the college is investigating the matters you are referring to,” said Harris. please see Threat pg. A3

Trio of SWC employees put on leave, one resigns

Priscilla Morales

Aileen Contrares

Melissa Rodriguez

Alyssa Cox

Virginia Perez Gonzalez

Estela Delgado Rodriguez

Ruben Meza

ASO EXECUTIVE BOARD (clockwise) — ASO President/Student Trustee Melissa Rodriguez, Vice President for Public Relations Priscilla Morales, Vice President of Club Affairs Aileen Contreras, Social Vice President Virginia Perez-Gonzalez, Executive Secretary Ruben Meza, Vice President of Finance Estela Delgado-Rodriguez, Executive Vice President Alyssa Cox.

By Jaime Pronoble Senior Staff Writer

Dean of the School of Arts and Communication Dr. Donna Arnold and PC Systems Technician Johnny Blankenship were placed paid administrative leave April 24, the third and fourth leaves of absence this spring. On March 17, Director of Facilities John Brown and Facilities Supervisor Ramsey Romero were placed on leave. Brown later resigned from his position on April 16. Ed Johnson is the interim director of facilities. Dr. Cynthia McGregor is the Acting Dean of the School of Arts and Communication. McGregor said she still continue teaching all of her classes. She is not short on assistance, she said. “Our staff is amazing,” she said. “Eileen (Zwierski) is the administrative assistant to the dean, and she basically tells me what the dean would be doing if she were here. I just try to fill in those shoes the best that I can.” Performing Arts Coordinator Silvia Lugo has also been very helpful, McGregor said, and she is doing her usual work facilitating performances and exhibitions. McGregor said she did not know the circumstances of her newly acquired position, only that Arnold is on leave. “I have a lot of respect for the dean and she will be missed,” she said.

By Gabriel Sandoval Arts Editor

Tax season has come and gone and so has the confidential information of 48 Southwestern College employees who had their identities stolen and fraudulent tax returns filed in their names. President Dr. Melinda Nish, who addressed the issue in an email sent to SWC employees on March 27, said campus police are engaged in an on-going investigation with the aid of an independent investigative firm which has contacted 30 of the 48 victims as of April 20. “We have a very small police department, so we don’t have a deep bench with police that have a lot of experience in investigations,” she said. “We felt it was best that we get a firm that specializes in investigations.” Investigators, Nish said, have found no evidence of a security breach or anything to suggest confidential information, W-2 forms or Social Security numbers were stolen by hackers. SWC Institutional Technology (IT) has also conducted an internal audit of the college’s computer systems, but found no evidence of a security breach either, she said. Representatives of the campus police, IT and the independent investigative firm said they were unable to comment. Nish has instructed them to deny comment in order to centralize communication. All media inquiries, she said, should be directed to her office. In the March 27 email Nish advised affected employees to file identity theft reports with their local law enforcement agencies, contact the Internal Revenue Service and one of the three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian or TransUnion — to put freezes on their credit report files so no new credit cards could be registered in their names. Nish said there may be more than please see Identity Theft pg. A3

STEVE KOWIT (1938-2015)

Brilliant poet was revered professor By Andrew Perez Senior Staff Writer

On a YouTube video Steve Kowit stands in front of a crowd at Ducky Waddle’s Emporium in Encinitas. Harsh fluorescent light brightens one side of the room, the rest is dark save for the the shop’s neon-red marque. Colorful crosses and macabre Mexican folk art decorate the wall

XOLOS Soccer’s Big Dogs,B8

behind him. Visions of pale calavera catrinas and red and green devil men stare at the onlookers. As Kowit starts to read his poem “I Attend a Poetry Reading,” the dark ambiance subsides and the audience begins to laugh their asses off. Kowit, who passed away in his sleep from cardiac arrest on April 2, was the Warren Zevon of the San Diego poetry scene – capable of creating transcendent

beauty and wicked humor. He once haunted Greenwich Village with Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg, but loved teaching at Southwestern College. Kowit was revered by his peers in both literary and academic circles. His poetry and teaching style exemplified a man who could make readers cry and bust a gut in the same stanza. please see Kowit pg. A2


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