Spring 2016 Issue 4, Volume 59

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 59, Issue 4

theswcsun.com ARTS Young artists go beyond fingerpainting.

B6 CAMPUS Study abroad student enchanted by the charm of Italy.

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February 2 - February 28, 2016

Accrediting body facing shutdown on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), an advisory board tasked with periodic review of the country’s regional college accreditation bodies.

NACIQI makes recommendations to the Secretar y of Education.

ACCJC was found to be out of compliance of 15 federal standards by the Department of Education in January 2014. It appealed the findings and in December 2015 NACIQI heard public comment during its review of that appeal from community college

By Andrew Dyer Assistant News Editor

Before sanctioning Southwestern College this month, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) was fighting for its own survival as the accreditor for California’s community colleges at a hearing in Washington, D.C. Also in Washington was SWC trustee Tim Nader, who traveled to offer comments to the National Advisory Committee

administrators, faculty, students and ACCJC representatives.

In January acting Secretary of Education John King rejected the ACCJC appeal and gave it 12 months to come into compliance with federal standards. King said ACCJC does not have wide support among educators and that they do not include enough a cademics on their appeals panels and visiting teams. Failing to meet these standards, according to Nader, casts doubts on ACCJC’s viability.

Findings by the Department of Education mirror those of a task force charged by the Chancellor of California Community Colleges to review ACCJC’s practices. It found that ACCJC had lost the support of educators and recommended California find a new accreditor for its community colleges.

Nader said his decision to travel to Washington for the NACIQI hearing was made after the ACCJC sent SWC what he called a “ransom letter.” ACCJC threatened please see ACCJC pg. A2

VIEWPOINTS Campus reorganization magically explained.

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WebAdvisor headaches continue

College placed on

G N I N R A W SWC receives 15 sanctions. If not resolved within 18 months, it risks losing its accreditation.

By Alberto Calderon Sports Editor

Southwestern College’s muchmaligned WebAdvisor had meltdowns in late December and late January that affected legions of students who were bumped from class or added to overenrolled classes. Problems continue, but college IT personnel insist corrections are coming.

Nadia Henning, who plans to apply to the nursing program, said she received a shocking e-mail shortly before the spring semester started.

“Dear SWC student, you were contacted yesterday regarding your CHEM 100 course. This e-mail serves as a follow-up and confirmation that you were enrolled in error. To correct the problem, you have been dropped from this course and moved back to your original position on the waitlist.”

“All this time I thought I was enrolled,” Henning said. “I paid, and right before class starts this happens. How am I supposed to progress? I can’t even apply for the nursing program without these science courses completed.”

On Dec. 26, a week before the compressed winter session and, a peak time for student registration, a WebAdvisor glitch caused the program to show classes across various sections as empty. Simultaneously, its automatic script alerted and sent out invitations to everybody on the waitlists to join the classes. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of students accepted. As a result, classes

“All this time I thought I was enrolled. I paid and right before class starts, this happens. How am I supposed to progress? ” Nadia Henning

Sergio Esparza/Staff

A CRY FOR HELP — An emotional Janelle Williams and Dr. Angelica Suarez discuss racial issues on campus.

Racism charges rise again

By Bianca Quilantan Editor-In-Chief

David Hodges/Staff

By Mary York Photo Editor

Five years after narrowly avoiding being shut down, Southwestern College has again been hit with numerous sanctions by its accreditation commission and has been placed on warning status.

Accreditation Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) evaluators slapped SWC with the warning sanction in a

report that listed 15 deficiencies for the college to improve upon, nine of which were official sanctions and could result in further discipline if not addressed. SWC has 18 months to make all the necessary changes, according to the ACCJC report.

Should the college fail to make the necessary improvements it faces closure. “ Wa r n i n g i n d i c a t e s t h e Commission has determined that an institution does not meet one or

more standards and reaffirmation is not warranted,” ACCJC President Dr. Barbara Beno wrote in a letter to SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish.

“Southwestern College is required to submit its follow-up report by March 15, 2017. The report should demonstrate that the college has resolved all deficiencies and meets accreditation standards.”

Nish expressed disappointment in please see Warning pg. A2

A decision to postpone the first-ever meeting of the new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee has escalated into a racially-charged conflict that has an array of faculty and classified employees calling for the resignations of new EDI Director Dr. Guadalupe Rodriguez Corona, Vice President of Student Services Dr. Angelica Suarez and President Dr. Melinda Nish.

College trustees SPECIAL met in emergency EDITION session INSIDE Feb. 19 and For more in-depth pledged coverage see C1 to take action at its March 8 meeting.

Two weeks of behind-the-scenes tension and acrimony became public Feb. 16 when classified employees president Andre Harris made an emotional presentation to the SWC Governing Board and said the campus was awash in racism.

Campus police hires first woman in 10 years

By Domonique Scott Campus Editor

across all sections were over-enrolled.

SWC’s IT deparment the error the very next day. The very next day the IT department discovered the error.

Admissions was not made aware of the problem until Jan. 4 and began to wade through the information. Admissions employees were able to identify the affected students and placed them back on the waitlist in the same exact position as before the glitch.

Director of Admissions and Records Nicholas Montez said his department acted as promptly as possible.

“By the time we sorted through all of the data it was around the end of the week,” he said. “It was around the seventh or the eighth. We put them right back where they were. We made the decision that was fair, certainly with the students’

Southwestern College’s police department began 2016 on a hiring spree.

A full-time officer, a part-time officer and four community service officers are going through orientation, said Campus Police Sergeant Jorge Sanchez.

One of the officers is a woman. Emalee Pallis is the first female officer at SWC in more than a decade.

Sanchez said SWC had female officer candidates in the past but they “just didn’t work out, background wise.”

Another woman joining the ranks is Campus Safety Officer Jessell Chaloux, who said she had been waiting for an opportunity to apply after working as a public safety assistant.

“As of now I’m the only female CSO,” she said. “I’m not sure if they’ll open up in the future (to more women).”

please see WebAdvisor pg. A3

please see Recruits pg. A2

Cristofer Garcia/Staff

NEW MEN ON THE BLOCK —New campus safety officers Thomas Moore (left) and Gabe Gonzaga (right) patrol the campus with SWCPD Corporal Torrance Carrington.

ACCJC issues “Show Cause” sanctions on CCSF

Dept. of Ed. finds ACCJC out of Federal standards

ACCJC moves to terminate CCSF accreditation. City of San Francisco sues ACCJC

California Federaltion of Teachers sues ACCJC

State auditor finds ACCJC acts inconsistantly and without transparency

Judge blocks CCSF shutdown

Sec of Ed. rejects ACCJC appeal, gives 12 months to come into compliance

Trustee Nader speaks against ACCJC at NACIQI hearing in D.C.

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standards’ but the commissioner has told us, ‘yes, you do meet the standard.’ But they didn’t alter the report.”

Nish said that some of the sanctions mentioned in the commissioner’s report are already in progress, like modifications to the college’s mission statement. Other sanctions, like Student Learning Outcomes and performance evaluations, she said, will require more thoughtful correction.

Vice President of Financial Affairs Tim Flood said the commissioner’s report may have unfairly portrayed the college. “(The commission’s report) was a little disappointing,” he said. “I think that the college did a wonderful job on the report.

Honestly, I had some questions about how they came up with the recommendations.

You look at the business recommendations, this district has always had clean audits every single year.”

Although he said some of the recommendations came as a surprise to him, Flood said the commissioner’s report made it clear that the college had work to do.

“There’s some major improvements that have been done over the years,” he said. “This just means that we have to continue moving forward making the improvements.”

Online Structural Support Specialist Larry Lambert said college leaders should have been seen many of the sanctions coming, especially those related to distance learning.

He said he has been trying to draw attention to the issues for years.

“We were one of the top online schools in the state years ago,” he said. “It could have been avoided if the administration and faculty senate would have stepped up to the plate and gave our information the kind of consideration it needed.”

Lambert said ACCJC’s report was not as harsh as it could have been.

“Part of the effort prior to accreditation getting here was that (the on-site accreditation team) saw only the best online classes that we have, instead of letting it all sit there and getting the information back officially on what needs to improve,” he said. “So what they got was a tip of the iceberg because such a facade was put forth.”

FloresCharter lobbies D.C. lawmakers against ACCJC

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In 2010 SWC was placed on probation for “a climate of fear and mistrust,” largely due to the abusive policies of former Superintendent Raj K. Chopra that restricted freedom of speech on campus, cut college classes and engaged in corruption with several former governing board members. This resulted in an investigation by the San Diego County District Attorney’s office with 144 felony charges, including bribery, perjury and influencing an elected official. Sanctions on SWC were lifted during the summer of 2011 following the election of new governing board members Tim Nader and Norma Hernandez. Nish became president in January 2012. In her interviews and public forums, Nish said she had expertise in accreditation and promised to get SWC smoothly through its next cycle.

“Managing an institution as complex as SWC is a really difficult task,” said Vargas in response to the commissioner’s report. “We have full confidence in her. We just renewed her contract a couple of months ago. This isn’t just about the president, this is about the governing board, this is about us as a team and the college working together to move this forward.”

In one of two public forums held by the college to explain the sanctions, Nish said the report was not straight-forward. She said there were significant errors of fact in the initial draft sent by the visiting team and that she submitted a rebuttal disagreeing with some of the sanctions along with links to evidence to back up her arguments.

Nish also made a personal visit to the accrediting commission meeting in January, where the October on-site team’s summary report was discussed, to defend the college’s progress. The commission chose to rewrite one of the recommendations and relabeled recommendations 8-12 as standards for improvement, rather than as necessities to maintain accreditation. Nish said the commissioner’s report was missing those changes made in January.

“This is a little complex in the way they’ve put this together,” she said. “If you read the report, you’re going to see in some areas where they’ve said, ‘you don’t meet the

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the commissioner’s report, but emphasized that SWC will remain fully accredited for the next 18 months when it will be reviewed again. None of the deficiencies were directly related to teaching and learning.

“I do not believe this ruling accurately reflects the hard work and significant progress all of our faculty, students, staff and administrators have made since our last accreditation visit,” Nish wrote to college staff. “I am confident we will address each of the recommendations with the same level of professionalism and excellence we have for the past six years.”

Colleges that close accreditation cannot transfer students or give financial aid. SWC Governing Board President Nora Vargas said students need to know their transfer units and financial aid are in good hands.

“It’s really important that the students know that we’re going to keep moving forward,” she said. “We are accredited and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we get (the recommendations) done by the day that the accreditors have given us next year.”

SWC entered a new accreditation cycle on August 1, 2015. An accreditation team visited the college in October 2015 and wrote a summary report on which the ACCJC commissioner based the sanctions.

Shortly after the college received the commissioner’s report, Nish held a public forum to address concerns. She said sanctions from ACCJC are meant to identify areas where colleges require improvement or change as a way of self-policing higher education, she said.

“The key is really demonstrating how we intentionally use outcomes and assessments to do appropriate program improvement, that we have meaningful dialogue in those academic disciplines and also in support services,” said Nish.

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Continued from pg. A1

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JUL 12

Warning: College must address all sanctions before March 2017

ACCJC demands members contribute to legal fund, SWC Governing Board votes “NO”

ACCJC sends “ransom letter,” SWC Board votes to comply. Chancellor’s task force recommends dumping ACCJC

Andrew Dyer/Staff

Recruits: Department hires sergeants, one of them is a woman Continued from pg. A1

Chaloux said she does not remember the last time a female had a CSO position.

“How do I feel about that? I feel very proud because out of all the applicants that were suited for the position I was chosen, a female.”

SWC student Robert Garcia, 20, said he is happy the campus was getting a female officer.

“I feel like a female officer would be more lenient and easy going when it comes to certain situations,” he said. “ I can tell some of the guys are not comfortable with handling situations involving females, like that smoking incident where like six officers arrested one girl. It was crazy. Maybe a female officer would have handled it better.

Sometimes the guys seem to take their jobs a little too seriously and I feel like a female officer would be a lot cooler to have and it would be something different.”

With the addition in numbers to the police department, Sanchez said it would be easier for campus police to delegate duties more thoroughly.

“We’re looking at growing the department because of the needs of the five campuses,” he said. “We’re becoming more organized and they’ve added some additional responsibilities so we needed to expand our department.”

Sanchez said the new hires will take over certain high-risk duties from student workers.

“It’s just making sure that they’re removed from the picture as far as their safety is concerned,” he said. “If anybody tries to do, whatever, they’ll have to deal with law enforcement.”

A re-organization of the department will be implemented along with the new hires, said Sanchez.

“One thing we’ve never done before was to really get organized, but now we’ve created a structure within the department where everyone has got their responsibilities,” he said. “Now we’ve got enough sergeants to deal with the specifics, and not one guy trying to do it all.”

There is still a vacancy for a new sergeant, Sanchez said.

A hiring committee of six was selected from the Associated Student Organization, faculty and staff.

Panelists will ask questions during the interview as will Campus Police Chief Michael Cash.

“It’s a good process,” said Sanchez. “ It’s not something where someone’s going to dictate, everyone’s involved and everyone’s got input.”

Linda Borrego, 28, said she would prefer the new sergeant be a female.

“We need more women in charge around here,” she said. “Maybe then something would get done and these men police would learn a thing or two about female safety.”

at ion

to summarily take away SWC’s accreditation after the governing board initially refused to contribute money from the SWC budget to help fund ACCJC legal action against City College of San Francisco.

ACCJC has been embroiled in legal fights stemming from its attempted closure of CCSF, a school serving 80,000 students.

“Our student’s accreditation was threatened because they wanted us to subsidize litigation against our student’s interest,” Nader said. “If (their) position is upheld in that litigation, we’re all in jeopardy.”

SWC’s governing board initially voted against subsidizing ACCJC legal expenses, which resulted in an August letter stating that if SWC did not contribute, the school would no longer be considered a member institution and, therefore, lose accreditation. SWC’s board reconsidered and voted to pay.

Representatives from schools across the state also spoke in Washington about their concerns with ACCJC and said its standards were unclear and confusing.

“I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wayne State University, a Ph.D. from the University of California Berkeley in physical chemistry and I was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University,” said Dr. Jennifer Shanoski, a professor at Merritt College in Oakland. “Yet with all that experience in higher education, I still don’t have a clear understanding of how to implement the standards or achieve full accreditation from the ACCJC visiting team.”

At the hearing Nader spoke in support of the Chancellor’s task force report to replace ACCJC. “Southwestern College has been experiencing some of the same irregularities,” he said. “The hours spent meeting ACCJC’s demands are diverted from education.”

Dr. Anita Grier, a former board member and president of City College of San

Francisco, described the ACCJC as a “rigid, autocratic, arbitrary and destructive institution.”

Representatives from ACCJC at the Washington hearing included President Dr. Barbara Beno and board chair Dr. Steven Kinsella, who delivered rebuttals.

“What NACIQI heard was part of a concerted effort to manufacture discontent with ACCJC, an effort spearheaded by (the) California Federation of Teachers enjoined by the Chancellor’s Office and City College stakeholders,” he said.

Kinsella said state Chancellor Dr. Brice Harris’ position was “irrational” and his determination that ACCJC had lost the confidence of member institutions as “nonsense.”

Nader said concerns about ACCJC’s legitimacy do not mean SWC’s sanctions do not have merit.

“We acknowledge those are legitimate issues and we’re going to work on fixing them,” he said.

Nader said he hoped that findings against ACCJC’s leadership practices, which he described as “authoritarian,” would lead to a different accreditor for Califonia’s Bianca Quilantan/Staff community colleges.

ADVOCATE FOR JUSTICE —Trustee Tim Nader spoke against California’s “The idea that you don’t have an community college accrediting commission in Washington D.C. ACCJC may be independent judiciary that can review replaced by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. a bureaucrat’s decision is abhorrent to constitutional democracy,” he said. “Dr. Beno has made it pretty clear she’d rather ACCJC has until January 2017 to remedy accrediting agency,” she said. there not be elected boards. By law we are deficiencies in their processes found by the In November 2015, the California governed by (one).”

Department of Education.

Community College Board of Governors Two months after Nader’s trip, SWC “I had been hopeful our October site visit directed the Community College Academic Senate President Patricia Flores- would be different because of the pressure Chancellor to begin planning a transition Charter went to Washington recently ACCJC is under,” Flores-Charter said. “It away from ACCJC. on behalf of the Faculty Association of wasn’t. It was business as usual. Actually, it “I think there’s a very strong possibility California Community Colleges. was worse.” that 18 months from now ACCJC will “We met with the California contingent If the Board of Governors which oversee have been replaced,” Nader said. and the Department of Education,” she said. the state’s 113 community and junior The Board of Governors has the final say “We went to over 20 (congressional) offices.” colleges does move to change accreditors in what organization will accredit the state’s Flores-Charter said ongoing issues with or if the Department of Education does community colleges.

ACCJC frustrated her and that it was not reaffirm ACCJC’s authority to accredit “There is widespread agreement important to bring these concerns to schools, said Flores-Charter, there are a few among faculty, staff, trustees and other legislators in Washington. options for what comes next. leaders within our system that the current “I have participated in four different “The three options would be moving accreditation process needs significant accreditation cycles and site visits,” she said. to WASC (Western Association of improvement,” board president Geoffrey “The last two, in 2009 and 2015 were, in Schools and Colleges), which does all L. Baum said in a statement. “We look my opinion and experience, adversarial. I felt our four-year (colleges), look at other forward to examining a proposal for like they came and looked for problems.” regional agencies, (or) create a new change early next year.”

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Continued from pg. A1

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

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ACCJC: Trustee speaks against accrediting body

Luz Aurora Aramburo, editor

NEWS

Feb. 2- Feb. 28, 2016 — Vol. 59, Issue 4

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Areas of improvement

Luz Aurora Aramburo/Staff

NOTEWORTHY SANCTIONS — SWC was hit with 15 original sanctions, some have subsequently been donwgraded. All 15 must be resolved within 18 months.

ACCJC is itself under investigation by the federal government and is engaged in a lengthy legal battle with San Francisco City College over the right to shut down that college, said Nish.

“The ACCJC is acutely aware of the

fact that a great part of the state of California has lost confidence in their process,” said Nish.

Of the 11 of colleges reviewed this cycle, none were given a clean report of accreditation, although SWC was the only college to be placed on warning.

NEWS

The Southwestern College Sun

“My job history shows that I don’t jump from job to job. I make a decision and I commit to that institution. My main job is to help communicate the budget and the business side of the college in a way that people have confidence.”

~Tim Flood

“I don’t want to be judged on my title or on how much I make, I want to be judged on how many students I get help to succeed.”

Feb. 2- Feb. 28, 2016 — Vol. 59, Issue 4

“I see myself as a change agent.

This work is a place of courage and a place out of love for including communities that have been marginalized, whichever community it is.”

~Jonathan King Director of Student Services

Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs

~Guadalupe Corona

Director of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity

NEW RECRUITS FOR 2016 “The purpose is not the ‘A,’ who cares? The question is whether you can use that knowledge.

Are you able to relate it to what is going on in the world today.”

~Michael Odu

“It was a perfect transition for me to leave the public sector. I know how Prop R contractors think and how they accomplish things.”

~Charlotte Zolezzi Director of Facilities, Operations and Planning

Dean of Mathematics, Science and Engineering

College leaders gave themselves good grades for progress made to promote student success, but agreed that work remains.

During a February special meeting of the governing board, college faculty, trustees, administrators and students were split into five breakout groups that represented different areas of student success to go over multiple topics of student success.

C o n s u l t a n t Au d re y Dow, v i c e president of external affairs and operations for the Campaign of College Opportunity, said the board hosted a similar meeting in 2014.

“What they were looking for was a little more than just a discussion,” she said. “They were really looking for stakeholders to provide some guidance

on what initiatives could really move the college forward to make some significant jumps in student success.”

Gr o u p s e m p h a s i z e d i m p r ov e d technology, said Dow, and were divided to discuss a specific area of student success: Connection: How students are recruited to SWC. Entrance: How students are admitted into SWC. Progression: How SWC supports student progression.

Completion: How SWC supports students to complete their programs of study.

Moving On: How students are supported to transfer or to start work.

Groups revisited the 2014 goals and assessed their progress, then developed common themes.

Boot camps: How to fund and scale them.

Assessment: Accelerations for math

and English.

Technology: Making it user friendly, putting the catalog online.

Financial aid: Making sure programs are funded so students have resources for transportation and food.

Better communication with students and high schools.

Evaluation: How to regularly examine student success and turn the information into actionable data.

After the review groups graded themselves.

Most groups gave themselves a B, but Academic Senate President-Elect Andrew Rempt and his table awarded themselves higher grades.

“The grade we gave ourselves was A, what’s wrong with you people?” Rempt said.

“We got it going on!”

Rempt said SWC is doing things it has never done before.

“We’re stumbling with it a little bit here and there,” he said, “but we’re making it work.”

WebAdvisor: Early semester glitch affects registering students Continued from pg. A1

best interests in mind.”

Some of the adversely affected students said they did not see it that way. Henning said issues like these have set her back on her career track.

“If I had known earlier, I could have been looking for another section or even tried a different college that had space,” she said. “This will be the third semester and I can’t even get on a waitlist for biology 260 and I’m in good academic standing.”

Like many things in the technological sphere, it has been difficult to sort out the root of the problem. Systems and Programming Supervisor Everett Garnick said this program error leaves him feeling uneasy.

“This particular issue is one where there is no data out there to trace,” he said. “I wish we could diagnose it because when it is left hanging out there like that you think it might come back. I don’t know how to fix that part of it.”

This recent episode is the latest in a long line of WebAdvisor gaffes during the crucial beginning weeks of a semester.

For many students putting together a school schedule is often a delicate balance of toggling work considerations along with the classes necessary to achieve their academic goals. Henning said there is no single thing that has a more pervasive impact on students than WebAdvisor’s functionality. Montes, who came to SWC from Grossmont College a year and a half ago, said the frequency of these issue are troubling and unfamiliar to him.

“You have hiccups at any place, but not like here,” he said. “Being here the challenges have been a little bit different as far as something coming up every semester.

I look forward to working on things and

Sergio Esparza/Staff

GLITCH IN THE MATRIX— Esteban Romero helps Jesus Covarrubias look at classes on WebAdvisor. During registation several waitlisted students were told they were registered in a class when in reality, they were full. This set back some students’ plans to transfer.

not have this be an issue every semester.

Every school is different and every school’s IT area is different in how they manage it, so I certainly do share the best that I can things that I bring from my past and things to be able to help the students.”

Garnick and his team of eight programmers whose job it is to tackle the why and the how behind WebAdvisor’s malfunctions said the problems are always evolving.

“The main problem is change,” he said. “Nothing ever stays the same.

Everything might be working okay in the system and somebody changes a process in the admissions office and now they enter data a little bit differently and because of that the program may react and there are unforeseen circumstances.

We constantly have things coming down from the U.S. Department of Education and the state requiring us to report things a little bit differently. Every one of those things as we implement the changes could cause problems.”

~Jim Spillers

Dean of Wellness, Exercise Science and Athletics

Student success evaluated

By Jaime Pronoble Production Manager

“It’s never really been about wins and loses, it’s about graduation and transfer. It’s ensuring that we are taking care of student athletes, providing them with the proper resources that they need to succeed.”

Montes said SWC has a unique relationship with some of the programs.

“SWC has a much longer history of using Colleague software products (WebAdvisor),” he said. “They were pretty much in on the ground floor. At Grossmont we didn’t go live with this product until 2008. We used an out-ofthe-box, vanilla version of it with minor modifications, if any. Every time you do a modification and let’s say when there is an upgrade to the product, now you have to account for every modification along with that upgrade.”

Garnick said IT is working to simplify SWC’s modification-bloated program to help minimize issues going forward. He said he hopes the recent waitlist issue has been resolved, but he cannot be fully sure.

“We know what the problem caused,” he said, “but we don’t know what the cause of the cause was. We always go back and try to identify what went wrong so it won’t occur again, but sometimes there are no breadcrumbs to leave a trail for us.”

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The Southwestern College Sun

VIEWPOINTS

February 2 - February 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

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Dan Cordero, Stephanie Garrido, Michelle Phillips, Jaime Pronoble

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The Southwestern College Sun

VIEWPOINTS

Febrary 2 - February 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

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.

ALYSSA PAJARILLO

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Virginity not always so innocent

Bianca Quilantan PRODUCTION MANAGER

Jaime Pronoble ONLINE

Mirella Lopez, editor NEWS

Luz Aurora Aramburo, editor Andrew Dyer, assistant VIEWPOINTS

Alyssa Pajarillo, editor Dan Cordero, lead cartoonist CAMPUS

Domonique Scott, editor Cristofer Garcia, assistant ARTS

Cesar Hirsch, editor Kenslow Smith, assistant

Andrea Aliseda/staff

SPORTS

Alberto Calderon, editor

editorial

PHOTOGRAPHY

Mary York, editor Sergio Esparza, assistant SENIOR STAFF

Nicholas Baltz COPY EDITORS

Brian del Carmen Viandy Gonzales

STAFF WRITERS

Victoria Gonzalez

Darcy Aguayo Maria Alonso

Brelio Lozano

Jessica Briseno

Natalie Mosqueda

JoseLuis Baylon

Joshua Navarro

Bo Chen-Samuel

Hannah Noyes

Alejandro Duran

Samantha Ojeda

Elibeth Esquivel

Jessica Osiecki

Priscilla Gallardo

Jeanette Sandoval

Henry Gentile

Cody Quigg

CARTOONISTS

Andrea Aliseda Stephanie Garrido Alan Luna Michelle Phillips Blake Tomczak PHOTOGRAPHERS

David Hodges ADVISOR

Dr. Max Branscomb

AWARDS/HONORS Student Press Law Center National College Press Freedom Award, 2011 National Newspaper Association National College Newspaper of the Year, 2004-16 Associated Collegiate Press National College Newspaper of the Year National Newspaper Pacemaker Award, 2003-06, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012-2015 General Excellence Awards, 2001-16 Best of Show Awards, 2003-16 Columbia University Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal for Journalism Excellence, 2001-16 California Newspaper Publishers Assoc.

California College Newspaper of the Year, 2013, 2015 Student Newspaper General Excellence, 2002-15 San Diego County Multicultural Heritage Award

Society of Professional Journalists National Mark of Excellence, 2001-15 First Amendment Award, 2002, 2005 San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards 1999-2015 Directors Award for Defense of Free Speech, 2012 Journalism Association of Community Colleges Pacesetter Award 2001-15 General Excellence Awards, 2000-15 San Diego County Fair Media Competition Best of Show 2001-03, 20052015 American Scholastic Press Association Community College Newspaper of the Year

The Issue: Southwestern College has once again been sanctioned by its accreditation body.

Our Position: Administration and faculty need to bury the hatchet and work together to fix this.

College leaders needs to ditch excuses and fix latest accreditation mess Once again into the breach, dear friends.

SWC has been sanctioned by the Accreditation Committee for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) and faces a list of sanctions it needs to address lest we lose our accreditation.

Let us cut to the chase. SWC is still accredited, still open and still doing a great job providing quality education. There is no need to enroll at Grossmont. We are very confident the college will clean up this new mess.

What’s so irritating is that we have a mess at all.

SWC has been two times let down by a faculty and administration that have forgotten their priorities and delayed progress. There is plenty of blame to go around.

In a near replay of 2010’s accreditation dust up, ACCJC has issued SWC an official warning. Our college was hit with 15 sanctions, nine of which require timely attention – 18 months, to be exact – or the school will face closure.

Much has been done to clean up the campus since the “climate of fear” sanctions in 2010, which resulted in scandal and probation.

Effects of SWC’s 2010-2011 probationary period linger in the community. Student enrollment dropped substantially following the events and numbers are still low, as some community members believe the college is unaccredited and send their children to other institutions. Reputations take a lifetime to create and seconds to destroy.

A warning from ACCJC was the very last thing our college needed, but college leaders are acting shamefully by downplaying the warning.

A warning from ACCJC is serious and embarrassing. Of the 11 colleges in this year’s accreditation cycle, SWC ranked lowest and had the most sanctions.

Several knowledgeable campus employees have come forward to say the bad report could have been avoided. Online Structural Support Specialist Larry Lambert said distance learning issues are the same ones he has been bringing before the faculty and administration for years. Teachers who are not trained for an online platform block students’ progress and departments that allow publishers to come to them directly instead of through the support office put students and the college at risk, he said.

Online Comments Policy

Lambert said his concerns have gone unattended because of the campus-wide attitude that classified employees have a lesser voice at the table.

Even SWC President Dr. Melinda Nish has said the college knew many of these sanctions were going to be issues and that they “come as no surprise.” That was a head-scratchingly dumb statement from our normally erudite president.

Why have so many important things not been fixed after five years? SWC’s mission statement got us in trouble, which is unforgiveable. Our fiscal service department is a mess that we hope brand new VP Tim Flood can clean up. Student Learning Outcomes have festered since 2011.

While SWC administrators use calming, vacuous platitudes in an attempt at spin control, students are left wondering why these issues were not taken care of sooner. Nish has said that the commissioner’s report was an inaccurate reflection of the college. Our board says ACCJC has gone rogue and lost the confidence of community colleges throughout California.

Both may be true, both are irrelevant. They sound like whining, grade-grubbing students complaining to their professors.

ACCJC lost an appeal in December in its case with the U.S. Department of Education and was given 18 months to come into compliance with federal standards. ACCJC is run by thugs, but our very well-paid administrators should have been smart enough to do what needed to be done to get a passing grade. Governing board members, instructors, employees and Nish herself have all said many of the sanctions are legitimate and that the college needs to improve.

Students should expect better. We expect a faculty and administration that will stop squabbling and address issues. The health of the college profoundly affects students and the economic foundation of this community.

Online courses, 508 compliance and college finances are not minor concerns. If the health and well being of the student body are not motivation enough for this faculty and administration to work together, the climate on campus has not improved as much as we thought.

Get to work, folks. Maintain SWC’s accreditation. Spend the next 18 months wisely and ditch the excuses. We expect more of you.

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Virginity has always been a doubleedged sword for women. Damned if you do it and damned if you don’t.

There is no greater hypocrisy in American society than the sexual double standard for young men and women.

Sexually active men are “studs” and sexual women are “whores.”

Virginity status is questioned throughout middle school, high school and sometimes even into college. Why does society hang on to such an archaic idea? Forcing virginity onto youth can damage when it comes to consent, self worth, sexual assault and sexual health. Virginity gives rise to guilt, shame, embarrassment and other emotional tropes that can fuel abuse.

Virginity is not natural.

Virginity is nothing more than an artificial social construct created to keep people – mostly women – from having pre-marital sex and staying “pure” for her husband. We are the only species that worries about such things and certainly the only life form that bludgeons their females for their sexual status.

Sex should never hurt.

There is no test for virginity, but there are plenty of weird myths.

One says that when a woman “gets her cherry popped” she will experience pain and bleeding during sex because the penetration has broken or torn her hymen.

Wrong.

A women’s first sexual experience should not be painful at all if she is relaxed or properly lubricated. It is not normal to feel pain.

Virginity conflicts with consent.

Consent is affirmative and enthusiastic.

A woman who is not relaxed may be nervous and doubting her desire to engage in sexual activity, causing her body to not properly responds to sexual stimuli and not sufficiently self-lubricated. There is nothing affirmative or enthusiastic about this.

No physical proof of virginity.

Some think that if a woman bleeds during her first sexual experience it is because the penetration has broken her hymen. If she bleeds, then her hymen was intact and she was a virgin.

False.

A young woman’s hymen is a thin membrane located inside the vaginal canal.

A hymen can break or tear during sexual activity, but it may tear many other ways that are not sexual in the least. Horseback riding, sports or even inserting a tampon can cause the hymen to tear.

Because a hymen can tear in many different ways, it is not a marker for virginity.

Unfortunately, this does not stop many women around the world from enduring invasive virginity tests, including in Iraq.

Apres virginity.

Women who are no longer virgins are often seen as “dirty” and “undesirable” in many parts of the world. This can cause a huge problem in self-esteem to women, especially those who have been victims of rape and sexual assault.

Worse, in some fundamentalist Muslim countries, women who are not virgins are often tortured and murdered – even if they were raped. Apparently the gods and goddesses of some religions no longer love their young female creations once they have experience sex, at least that is what the old male religious leaders would have us think.

Young women have the right to not engage in sexual activity if they do not want to, but they also have the right to have sex when they believe the time is right for them. There is no greater hypocrisy in our society then the praise of sexually active young men and the scorning of young women who have had sex.

Sex is natural. Virginity is not.

Alyssa may be reached at sexandthesun@theswcsun.com

Alyssa Pajarillo, editor

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

?

Thinking Out

Loud

How do you feel about the accreditation warning given to SWC?

“It’s my first semester here so it’d be pretty bad for me if the college got shut down.”

Veronica Marquez, 22, Undecided

“It’s pretty messed up. What are we doing wrong? I think we should try as a whole college to fix this.”

Ivan Lopez, 18, Business Management

“This is my last semester here, but it’s still disturbing that this is happening again and it seems to show that there’s something wrong here with the administration.”

Lorenzo Servantes, 20, Biology

“I’ve been here for 11 years, so it’s not the first time I’ve heard of the college being under warning.”

VIEWPOINTS

Daniel Alonzo, 18, Sociology

A7

Hard-working adjuncts deserve better

By Mary York A Perspective

He should not have had to, but political science instructor Rusty Nichols began his first class with an apology. He promised that he would make time for his students and that he is dedicated to their success. He promised that if students want to meet, they can try to schedule something with him and they can talk in the cafeteria or at Jason’s Coffee Cart. Because he is an adjunct, Nichols has no office hours and no office.

Meeting up with a professor in a coffee shop to discuss the intricacies of government may sound fondly scholastic, but the reality is that the nearly 800 SWC adjuncts who work hard to ensure the success of their students have no corner of campus they can call their own.

There has been a reluctance to hire adjunct employees as full-time faculty, despite years of vocalized objections. Adjunct hiring was addressed at a forum during the accreditation visit last fall. It has been the subject of numerous oncampus rallies and remains the unfunniest joke among college professors who find gallows humor the best way to cope with distasteful circumstances.

Students need to speak up.

Full-time students need fulltime faculty. Students are here at all hours of the day and have schedules that are odd and varied. Reliable office hours and a quiet place where they can sit and talk with their instructors – their guides and mentors – can be the difference between graduating on time and tacking on a few extra semesters with shaky GPAs. A job worth doing is worth doing well. Education must not be served to students halfbaked. Give professors a home on campus so they can answer our questions or provide guidance that many students cannot find outside this college.

Students want the people who

help them build their futures to be treated well.

Students today are paying more money for their education than any previous generation. They expect nothing less than excellence, given the student loans they will be chaining themselves to for the next several decades.

This predilection for hiring adjuncts is not conducive to cultivating an ideal education. Forbes found that nearly 70 percent of US collegiate instructors are adjuncts or non-tenure track. Their analysis of this figure is disparaging. Low wages and lack of job security may deter the brightest minds from taking adjunct positions, depriving future generations of their knowledge and expertise.

Further, Forbes found that more than half of the nation’s adjuncts make less than $35,000 a year and many of those take second jobs to help cover their bills, dividing their attention and making them less accessible to their students. Fifty percent of SWC classes are taught

by adjuncts and SWC’s minimal compensation for the time they spend with students outside of class covers usually no more than two hours per a semester.

No one who carries out the noble calling of educating the world’s hungry minds should have to live in fear of a pink slip or scavenge by on low wages.

SWC is not the only college discussing the treatment of adjuncts. A nation-wide discussion has emerged with many claiming that adjuncts’ opinions and concerns are not given credence, a complaint which many of SWC’s own beloved adjunct instructors would echo.

This is a bigger issue than filling time slots. Yes, financial considerations are involved. Administration may be doing the best they can.

It is time both educators and students were given the resources they need to succeed.

It is time we graduate our adjuncts.

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College leaders once again score well on accessibility, but slip on transparency

C

ollege leadership took a step backward in 2015 as gains in accessibility and transparency suffered serious setbacks. Though governing board members and most administrators remained friendly, open and accessible, other leaders committed egregious violations of the California Public Records Act and the college’s and the once-healing movement toward greater transparency slowed.

College President Dr. Melinda Nish has been accessible for interviews with student journalists, but increasingly selective with public documents. She has stubbornly — and potentially illegally — squirrelled away the results of the investigation of Security Chief Michael Cash. She allowed atrocious behavior by Dean Mia McClellan, who refused to cooperate on modifications of student grievances policy promised by Nish, cooperated with a mysterious and hostile agitprop pamphlet, and then lied about it during a recorded interview. McClellan has threatened to file a $5 million lawsuit against The Sun. Also earning a lowered score this year is Cash for being less accessible and often rude and unprofessional toward student journalists. Silvia Cornejo Darcy also slips another wrung for her refusal to speak to the student media.

Administrators not included are either new or were not contacted by The Sun this year.

Stef Hergert, 29, Child Development

“I heard about this last semester, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

Feb. 2 - Feb. 28, 2016 — Vol. 59, Issue 4

An A grade was awarded to leaders who consistantly show a willingness to talk to the press, respond to emails and do not make gathering information a chore.

-Griselda Delgado, Governing Board member -Dr. Malia Flood, Director of DDS -Tim Flood, Vice President of Fiscal Services -Linda Gilstrap, Dean, Officer of Institutional Effectiveness -Linda Hensley, Director of Institutional Effectiveness -Norma L. Hernandez, Governing Board member -Lillian Leopold, Public Information Officer -Dr. Joel Levine, Dean, School of Language and Literature -Catherine McJannet, Director of Nursing -Dr. Mark Meadows, Dean, Continuing Education and Special Projects -Patrice Milkovich, Director of Crown Cove Aquatic Center -Tim Nader, Governing Board member -Humberto Peraza, Governing Board member -James Spillers, Dean of WESA -Dr. Mink Stavenga, Dean, Business and Technology -Dr. Angelica Suarez, Vice President of Student Affairs -Kathy Tyner, Vice President of Academic Affairs -Nora E. Vargas, Governing Board President -Charlotte Zolezzi, Director, Facilities

B grades were assigned to friendly, helpful campus leaders who are a little less accessible.

-Dr. Melinda Nish, Superintendent/ President -Michael Odu, Dean, MSE

Follow us on: The SWC Sun Theswcsun

@theswcsun Theswcsun

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

-Michael Cash, Campus Police Chief

Theswcsun

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

-Christine Perri, Dean, National City Higher Education Center

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

-Silvia Cornejo Darcy, Dean, San Ysidro and Otay Mesa HEC -Mia McClellan, Dean, Instructional Support Services and Continuing Education

A8

Page Design by Alejandro Duran

BACKPAGE

February 2 - February 28, 2016 — Vol. 59, Issue 4

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

Illustration and page design by Alejandro Duran

March 02

The Hausmann String Quartet 7:30 p.m.

Recital Room 801

08

Speaker: Dr. Daniel Ortega 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Student Union East Courage to Learn: Dr. Daniel Ortega talks about navigating the higher education system Baseball Game vs. San Diego City College 2 p.m.

09

Summer Wave Surf Rock 7:30 p.m.

Recital Hall Room 801

10

“Gesture in Mark” Gallery Opening 11:20 a.m.

SWC Art Gallery

11

AlumniFest Gulls Pre-Game Tailgate Party, 5 p.m.

Gulls vs. Bakersfield Condors, 7:05 p.m.

Valley View Casino Center

18

Softball Game vs. Palomar College 3 p.m.

15 - 20

The Arsonists Stage Comedy 15th - 19th, 7:30 p.m.

20th, 2:00 p.m.

Mayan Hall

22

Women’s History Month Street Painting Festival Jaguar Walk

26

Spring Choral Review 11 a.m.

Recital Room 801

April 19

ASO Festival of Nations 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Mayan Hall Patio

22

Homeboy to Harvard: Richard Santana 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.

Student Union East

May 06

Southwestern College Foundation Golf Tournament 8 a.m.

Sycuan Resort Willow Glen Golf Course

10 - 15

All in the Timing Comedy Play 10th - 14th, 7:30 p.m.

15th, 2:00 p.m.

Mayan Hall

February 2 - February 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

CAMPUS

The Southwestern College Sun

JoseLuis Baylon

Good sleep essential for all students Mohandas Gandhi and Edgar Allan Poe have a very different outlook on going to bed.

“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die,” wrote Gandhi. “And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”

Poe, as expected, had a somewhat darker take.

“Sleep, those little slices of death,” wrote Poe, “how I loathe them!”

This round goes to the Mahatma.

Sleep is a critical function of human health and essential for our brains. Lack of sleep may be what made Poe stark raven mad! (Bad pun!)

Humans have outsmarted themselves when it comes to sleep.

Back in the pre-fire and electricity days, diurnal man went to sleep with the setting sun and rose at the crack of dawn. Now, thanks to electric lights, TV and caffeine, we are staying up later than ever.

We are a sleep deprived nation. With less sleep come more accidents, more crime and more really bad term papers. We also have a record number of unhealthy brains.

Sleep is the only time the brain cleanses itself and the brain is a messy, highperformance wonder that needs lots of cleaning. During the day our brains conduct trillions of calculations, each an electro-chemical reaction in its cells. Like all cells, our brain cells absorb oxygen and give off waste which accumulates throughout the day and into the evening.

Waste and byproducts clog the brain and make it run less efficiently.

At night our brains wash themselves by expanding and contracting and squeezing waste toward the brainstem and spine.

Our glymphatic system opens up a spinal fluid drainage system while we sleep that allows the gently sloshing brain to flush out waste and send it to the liver for processing.

Humans generally need about eight hours of sleep for this process to run its course.

People who do not sleep enough not only feel badly the next day, they perform less effectively and put themselves and others in danger. Sleep deprived people wreck their cars at a much higher rate than well-rested folks. They are involved in more industrial accidents, disagreements and crimes.

Being sleep deprived is little being a little bit insane – or a lot.

Sleep deprivation may cause other systemic problems, including Parkinson’s Disease. Neurologists have concluded that only 13 percent of Parkinson’s cases are hereditary, the rest are considered “sporadic” which may be caused by long stretches of sleeplessness that have damaged the brain from lack of cleansing. Brains predisposed to Parkinson’s often have a mutation in the gene that starts the cleaning process.

Instead of pushing waste products out through the brain stem, they accumulate until it turns into plaque and clogs the space between neurons.

Teenagers and college students are among the most sleep deprived people and the potential long-term damage is more serious than previous thought. Unfortunately, society and tradition are aligned against teens and young adults, whose brains prefer to stay up later during the evening and sleep later in the morning.

Our public school systems have been very detrimental to middle school and high school students by forcing them out of bed before dawn for ridiculously early classes.

Even Southwestern College, in a pique of scheduling efficiency, has too many misguided 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. classes with high drop rates.

Sleep, perchance to dream. Our bodies and minds need rest.

All the machismo and braggadocio about working late and not sleeping is nothing to be proud about. Not sleeping damages our brains, the home of our intellect, our personalities and our conscientiousness.

Some friendly advice – learn about the brain, then sleep on it.

JoseLuis may be reached at plutotoplato@theswcsun.com

HAVE TRUNK, WILL TRAVEL — Professor of Psychology Dr. Chris Hayashi worked at a sanctuary for abused and abandoned elephants in Thailand during a semester-long sabbatical to volunteer around the world.

A world of Professor Chris Hayashi visits three countries during Give a Day Global sabbatical

By Cristofer Garcia Assistant Campus Editor

Two continents… three countries… one day each.

Dr. Chris Hayashi, Southwestern College’s peripatetic professor of psychology, spent his sabbatical last semester traveling the world and volunteering to better the lives of total strangers.

Hayashi, 39, volunteered abroad through Give a Day Global, a nonprofit organization that facilitates volunteer opportunities throughout the world.

“There is so much we can do to make a difference and make the lives of those around us better,” he said. “This organization is trying to evaluate some existing sites and also perhaps establish new partnerships in

Courtesy Photo

Good

specific countries. One of the places where they wanted to do that was Bali (Indonesia) and I always wanted to go there.” Hayashi said he had to adjust to geckos keeping him up at night, driving a scooter in a city with few traffic laws and not drinking the water to avoid what the locals call “Bali Belly.”

“It’s very eye opening and humbling to be in a culture for an extended period of time and see how people truly live their daily lives,” he said.

Hayashi said he noticed vast differences between Bali and the United States, but also some similarities.

“It’s very interesting to see how the media, society and cultures dealt with things like terrorist attacks in Paris and then there was a terrorist attack in Jakarta a couple days after,” he said. “It was just interesting to see the cultural response. It was, of course, mentioned

in the news, but life goes on.”

Despite the dangerous conditions, he said Bali retains its beauty.

“It’s the simplicity of the lifestyle especially in Bali,” he said, “but it’s also the focus on family and friends and spirituality.”

Hayashi also traveled to the Caribbean.

“I visited Cuba and also did some work there in Cuba Libro, a book exchange program helping some of the Cuban people learn English.”

Even though it was his second trip to Cuba he said the country still charms him.

“It was fascinating to see how well educated the citizens were in terms of literacy rates and even American politics.”

After Cuba and Indonesia, Hayashi traveled on. please see Hayashi pg. B2

B1

B2

Domonique Scott, editor

CAMPUS

Feb. 2 - Feb. 28, 2016 — Vol. 59, Issue 4

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

Washed up on the shore Student spends break helping Middle Eastern refugees acclimate to a new life in Europe

WE CAME BY BOAT — Refugees go through hectic conditions when arriving on the shores of Athens. Many of their personal items get left behind in the rocks and sand.

By Domonique Scott Campus Editor

Courtesy Photo

SWC alumnus transformed by time in evolving China

By Andrew Dyer Assistant News Editor

Christian Gutierrez grew up bilingual, bicultural and had a degree from UCSD. It was not enough, though, to prepare him for the exotic, ancient, bewildering and wondrous culture of China.

He arrived in Daqing, China in June 2012. He had studied Chinese every day for a year prior to his arrival, but still struggled with the Hanzi-based language.

He lived and worked in Daqing for two years. Although he has returned to San Diego County, Gutierrez said those years remain with him, as does his desire to travel and live abroad.

It was a long road from Southwestern College, where he was a student from 2006-09, to the northeast corner of China. It started with an application to the Peace Corps. While waiting for a response, Gutierrez enrolled in an online Master’s program and began applying for jobs in China. By the time the Peace Corps responded with a position in Kyrgystan, he was already far along in his Chinese studies and close to accepting a position teaching English in Daqing, a city of 3 million.

Daqing is in an area known for its oil fields, the most productive in China.

Located about 500 miles north of the North Korean border, the region endures short, humid summers and long, bitter

winters. January highs average around one degree Fahrenheit.

Living in China and not being fluent in the language was challenging, but not impossible, said Gutierrez.

“I could talk to people on a child’s level,” Gutierrez said. “When I lost luggage at the airport, I was able to resolve it.”

Although he found the transportation system complex and difficult to navigate, Gutierrez said he traveled extensively in eastern China, including sojourns to Guangzhou, located on the southern coast, and the capital, Beijing. He also visited Dandong on the North Korean border.

He said the contrasts on China’s border with the “Hermit Kingdom” were striking.

“You see this river and on one side it’s pretty developed,” Gutierrez said. “On the other side you can see a house on a hill and a Ferris wheel that’s all for show.

You can see it rusting from a mile away.”

Apart from traveling, being immersed in day-to-day life offered glimpses and insights into Chinese home life many Americans never see. The most important holiday in China is its new year, which takes place on the lunar new year in January or February. A student invited Gutierrez to her family’s celebration, an honor for a foreign visitor. please see China pg. B3

Images of Middle Eastern refugees desperately fleeing civil war, Russian bombs and the Islamic State have seared into the minds of the citizens of the Western world. Greece is a primary destination of this haggard flow of humanity.

Boats bobbed through the Aegean Sea towards Athens where Greece’s angels and international volunteers greeted the worn travelers with food, clothes and medicine. Southwestern College student Mary York was one of the angels. She flew to Greece during her winter break to volunteer for Helping Hands.

“A lot of Afghan and Iranian refugees are coming to Athens,” she said. “Some are coming because of the war and some of them are coming because of the oppressive government. A lot of them are coming because of religious persecution.”

York said she had been interested in working in a ministry assisting refugees for some time and in November 2015 she saw her chance.

“This group works specifically with Iranian and Afghan refugees,” she said.

“There’s been a steady stream of refugees coming from Afghanistan especially for the last 20 years.”

York said she was excited, relieved and anxious about her trip.

“I’ve done a lot of international work, so I wasn’t concerned about fundraising for the trip. I’m used to that kind of thing,” she said. “I was really worried about the little details. This specific kind of work was new to me.”

Helping Hands keeps itself in the

center of Athens where most refugees wait for smugglers, transports or to process paperwork.

“It’s basically been the spot to go to for a long time,” she said.

Her usual day consisted of pouring tea for refugee men, making minimal eye contact, which is considered forward and inappropriate in Muslim culture.

“So many people told me they were coming because they were looking for God.”

— Mary York

Muslim men see it as a sign of interest when women smile, make eye contact or reach out to touch hands, said York.

On Wednesdays, the center was open for women and children to shower.

Some of the children, she said, played “refugee” as if they were playing house.

York said many of the children had only known the life of a refugee and the sight of them playing make believe games of running to boats was strange.

“One of the stories I found the most amazing was this little boy who celebrated his second birthday while I was there,” she said. “His parents had come over about 18 months before and during their trip he had fallen out of the boat into the water and they couldn’t find him. They were finally able to grab him and pull him out, but he had stopped breathing completely.

They thought he was dead. After two or three minutes they finally got him

Mary York/Staff

to start breathing again.”

So many refugees die at sea that Greek fishermen have become afraid of pulling in their nets because of the many corpses, said York.

“So many people told me they were coming because they were looking for God and they’re not allowed to look in the Middle East,” she said. “They’re not allowed to question Islam. They came to Europe because they knew that there they would be able to look for God.” York said she hopes to continue relief work, but closer to home “The next step for me is more local,” she said. “I know that the U.S. is going to be getting refugees and I know that some are going to be in Southern California. I would love to be a part of helping them acclimate to American culture to welcome them to their new home and to making them all feel a part of this country.”

York said trips like hers are necessary to bridge cultural barriers.“I think that empathy and understanding come from knowledge and if we don’t know how can we empathize, how can we be compassionate?” she said.

York said the trip was very humbling.

“I was the servant and they were these honorable guests with these stories and what a privilege to give them a hot cup of tea and to listen to what they had to share,” she said. “How selfish it would have been of me to come back to my life and go on like it never happened, like they never happened. We should make changes here on the home front and trips like this are meant to train us so we can see what needs work in our own homes.”

Hayashi: SWC professor travels the world to volunteer, serve and learn Continued from page B1

“I also flew to Thailand and met up with one of the founders of Give a Day Global,” he said.

In Thailand he helped recovering elephants.

“It was an elephant sanctuary that served as a place for elephants that had been abused or were involved in labor camps,” he said.

He also worked with an orphanage that focused on HIVimpacted children.

“Either their parents had given them up or abandoned them because they were HIV positive or their mothers had died of (AIDS-related illnesses) and so they no longer had someone to take care of them,” he said. “That was very powerful and moving.”

Hayashi said he tries to travel as much as he can and recommends the experience to others.“When I’m traveling I see so many people from so many different parts of the world taking time to travel and see the world,” he said.

“When they meet me and I tell them that I’m from the United States they’re surprised because they say ‘So many people from the United S tates we don’t meet,’ because (Americans) don’t ever travel.”

Hayashi encouraged students to travel.

Photo Courtesy of Sara Sessions “I’m a big believer that life begins at the very edge of your GIVING IS CONTAGIOUS— The daughter of a Balinese vendor comfort zone,” he said. “Often times travel is hard and it’s lonely, gives Hayashi a flower as the sunset approaches. and sometimes ugly and you see things in the world that you don’t want to see. I think it’s important if you want to grow and develop as an individual to put yourself in positions where you have new experiences and can see things in a different way.”

CAMPUS

The Southwestern College Sun

Feb. 2- Feb. 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

B3

Esther Alonso’s of

Journey

Enlightenment

Courtesy Photo

SANDS OF TIME—Professor Esther Alonso marvels at the stark beauty of Chile’s Atacama Desert.

By Luz Aurora Aramburo News Editor

It can be a dangerous world for women traveling alone.

Esther Alonso travels anyway.

Alonso, a Southwestern College Spanish professor, heard all the objections during her eight sabbatical months in South America.

None changed her mind.

“I have no excuse not to do it and I’ve been wanting to go since I was a child,” she said.

A lon s o i s a native of Mexico City. When she was seven, her ALONSO parents took her to Disneyland. They did not realize they had triggered the traveler inside of her.

Alonso and her sister, Professor of Spanish Deana Alonso-Post, have traveled throughout Europe and the Americas.

They have journeyed together, with friends and individually, but neither had ever traveled alone for such a long period

of time.

“We could be wearing old clothes, but we need to travel,” Deana said. “We have our priorities.”

Deana said the reason her sister did not run into trouble was partly luck and partly because their parents taught them to be cautious travelers. This trip, she said, was important to her sister.

“We have always felt that you need to visit those countries so we know what we’re talking about (when we teach),” she said.

“It is different to read about them than to be there in the middle of the island with the big moais and to learn about the people and to sit and eat with the people.”

Both sisters dedicate sabbaticals to learning about Spanish-speaking countries. This trip focused on UNESCO sites.

“I didn’t have anything prearranged, except for the three first weeks in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and my ticket back the following year,” she said. “You can’t make plans five months in advance. It has to be one month or month and a half batches of time and that is exactly what I would do.”

After arriving in Argentina, Alonso jetted off to visit glaciers in Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of South America. She traveled by plane, bus, boat, taxi, rental

cars and horseback.

“When you travel, you meet people from all over the place with similar interests because if you are there in a bus from nowhere to nowhere for 12 hours, it’s because this person, more or less, thinks like you do,” she said.

For two months she traveled along the Argentina-Chile border by bus, stopping in little pueblos along the way.

“I had an idea that it would be very much like traveling throughout Mexico, with all of the contrast in poverty and the things you don’t like to see,” said Alonso.

“But I also knew that people were nice, kind, curious and warm. As soon as I got there it was just like home. Different because of different cities, different people, different accents, different foods, but home nevertheless.”

Alonso said she found an underlying pattern in Latin America.

“Despite our differences in culture among the Spanish-speaking countries, we have so much more in common,” she said. “We should be more united. We have the same social issues, the same economic issues, the same class issues and we should look at each other to see how some of these countries have solved these issues.”

Alonso said Latin America’s shared

history could lead its nations to a shared future.

“We should be like the European Union in Latin American countries,” she said.

“I felt at home everywhere, just speaking the language and knowing where they came from and knowing that history of colonization of Spain. You see the same results. You see the same beauty that came out of that because it was not only atrocities.”

Alonso said she loved meeting new people on the road and may have forged enough friendly relations to give national governments a proper example of diplomacy.

“I spent Christmas by myself in Patagonia,” she said. “I bought a very good bottle of wine to toast Christmas, even if I did it by myself.”

Unfortunately, Alonso said she forgot her wine on a bus. The next day, she said, she got a call that the bus driver was waiting for her at the café where she had been dropped off.

“There is the driver of the bus with the bottle and he says, ‘Now you have to share it with me.’ I sat there with the owner of the cafe and the bus driver by myself and we drank the wine right there before Christmas.”

After so many months alone on a different continent, something was bound to go wrong.

Something did.

“I had one bad experience and it was of my own doing,” she said. “I lost my wallet.

I left it in a taxi.”

With a pair of $100 bills and no international shipping on credit cards, Alonso waited for her sister to bring her new credit cards. Luckily, Semana Santa was coming around and a sister reunion was already part of the plan. Deana visited Esther in Santiago, Chile, during winter break and in Bogota, Colombia during spring break.

Then Esther was back out on her own.

“I did miss that easy way of talking with people, of making friendships, of (meeting) perfect strangers and you end up having dinner and sharing things about your personal lives,” she said. “That is harder to do here.”

Traveling alone does teach you about yourself, she said, and on returning to the States—safe and sound—she said she noticed it more.

“I was by myself down there, so it was in my best interest to be open and friendly and outgoing,” she said. “Maybe here, in my daily life, I am less so.”

Photo courtesy of Christian Gutierrez

China: SWC Alumnus discovers ancient culture in a very modern nation Continued from page B2

Photos by Andrew Perez

Florence: Southwestern student in modern Italy-veni, vidi, amavi Continued from page B8

Located adjacent to the Boboli, the Bardini is smaller and more easily navigable. There were fewer tourists and no one really seemed to be in a hurry.

Time slowed and I was content to sit on the grass and have a picnic or write in my notebook. Whenever I looked up from my book, the lush green trees seemed to swallow me up and cradle me in their arms. I suffer from severe depression and anxiety that can be triggered quite easily. Whenever I was in the Bardini I felt at peace, as if nothing in the world mattered except me, my pen, my notebook and the green, green grass. Everything else just

melted away.

From the dirty water of the Arno to the grotesque bodies in “La Specola” to Michelangelo’s “David,” Florence is full of intrigue. Two months was not enough to see everything. Words fail to describe the immense beauty of the city and its

people, some of the kindest I have ever met, unafraid to be themselves. It is as if the city grants them permission to be as weird or as creative or as loud as they need. Florence will always be my second home and lives in my heart. “Veni, vidi, amavi” (I came, I saw, I loved).

Gutierrez said one exchange between the elders of the family in particular really touched him.

“Her grandmother was teaching me how to make dumplings,” he said.

Gutierrez said the grandfather took exception to his wife’s technique and described the importance of sticking to the traditional method. He inserted himself into the undertaking and began demonstrating the traditional dumplingfolding approach.

“He told me I had to do it in one motion,” said Gutierrez.

Then, he said, the wife jumped back in to scold her meddling husband.

“She said, ‘Nobody has time for that,’” he said. “It was funny.”

Life in China was not always a cultural struggle, said Gutierrez, and there was a tight-knit group of fellow expats who would hang out at bars that catered to the small population of Westerners.

Gutierrez’s girlfriend, who was studying in Spain at the time, was able to visit China and vice versa.

“Breaking up didn’t work for us,” Gutierrez said.

They got married eight months ago.

Certain cultural differences stood out, he said, especially in regards to courtesy

and social grace. In China a timid call for a waiter at a restaurant is going to be ignored.

Patrons typically yell for service.

“It’s not that they’re rude,” he said, “It’s that their language is entirely different.”

It was, at times, a challenge to keep life in perspective and not let ethnocentric ideals cloud his thinking.

“Sometimes you’re tired, sometimes you’re cranky,” Gutierrez said, describing a taxi ride with an excited driver who would not stop talking. Keeping perspective was important, he said. “This guy has probably seen very few foreigners in his life.”

Upon his return to the U.S., Gutierrez said he was grateful just to be able to read again.

“For a while I would read every sign I saw,” he said. “I was so happy to be able to read. For two years I was highly illiterate.”

Gutierrez said nothing can replace the experience of getting out of one’s comfort zone and recommends that SWC students consider working abroad once their college careers are over.

“Travel as much as you can,” he said. “You hear of other people and then you finally meet them.”

Gutierrez said people around the world want the same things, like big family feasts, barbecues and a job that permits them. He said traveling and living abroad can give people a life-changing perspective on the world and their place in it.

“You meet other people and you realize the world is different, sometimes, more than you think,” Gutierrez said.

“You just can’t put a price on that.”

B4

The Southwestern College Sun

February 2 — February 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

SPORTS

BRIGHT FUTURE DAWNS Cody Simmons, Kyle Bedsole, Luke Ramirez and Steven Sherwood.

Photos By Mary York

Jaguars baseball team is led by its sophomore Fab Four

By Mary York Photo Editor

first 18 innings of preseason, said lower velocity does not mean lower expectations.

“It means we have to work a lot harder and want it in every single game,” he said. “We can’t go over there and expect our talent to just work out.”

The Jags are 4-3 in non-league play, with a team batting average of .311, 46 runs and one home run. Bedsole said muscle must replace magic.

“We’ve come together a lot more in the competition because we know we need each other to actually be good,” he said. “We don’t have any crazy ridiculous phenoms who can step onto the field and be magic gods who can carry the whole team by themselves. We have to play as a team in order to win and I think

A dugout full of freshmen usually means a rebuilding year.

Unless the freshmen can play.

With only eight returning players on a roster of 37, the Jaguars face a tough road to repeat last season’s successes.

Sophomore pitcher Kyle Bedsole said the team has big cleats to fill.

“Last year we had a crazy staff,” he said.

“We had four or five people throwing over 90 (mph). So it’s not that we have fewer pitchers, we just don’t have that crazy, ridiculous talent on the staff.”

Bedsole, who only gave up one run in his

Swimmers set to jump into the deep end

Q&A with Jim Spillers

Kenslow Smith/Staff

By Viandy Gonzalez Copy Editor

Southwestern College’s swimming and diving team are breaking records as if the shark from “Jaws” was swimming behind them.

“Our conference championship is really competitive,” said Head Coach Matt Ustaszewski. “There are some of the fastest schools in Southern California and to compete and beat those athletes is a remarkable feat.”

Giselle Chavez broke 14 school records in her twoyear career at SWC, including 12 in 2015. Chavez continues to be motivation for her former teammates.

“Last year we scored the most on the men and women’s side than we have in I’d say five years,” said Ustaszewski.

Mario Medina, 19, marine biology major, said he has been swimming since he was six. His goal, he said, is to break college records for the 100 and 200 fly, as well as the 200 individual meter.

“Proving to myself and my past self that nothing is impossible, everything is in reach, I just have to give it my all,” said Medina.

Genaro Salido, 20, criminal justice, said his goal is to break records in freestyle, relay and backstroke. He said he wants to swim at SDSU and “swim for conditioning until the end of times.”

Ustaszewski said he has high hopes for this year’s team.

“We want to be competitive at our conference championships and to have the best finish that we can.”

please see Baseball pg. B5

Baseball by the numbers Record: 3-4 runs 7 Avg. per game

4

27 0.48 .480

Sophomores in the lineup Freshmen on the roster Kyle Bedsole ERA

Cody Simmons batting avg.

New dean looks to make college South Bay’s “epicenter of wellness”

A conversation with senior editor Nicholas Baltz

J

WINGS ON THE WATER—Freshman Leslie Toriz practices her butterfly stroke.

that’s what a lot of us realize.”

Jaguar returnees pledged to promote cohesion and a few leaders are beginning to take the helm. Returning outfielder Ray Peterson said cultivating team chemistry began in the fall.

Preseason is bringing the team together even more.

“With the team being so young we have to start playing together a little more and let them know that things are a bit higher than high school,” said Peterson.

Freshman infielder Luke Ramirez said the players have bonded well.

“We have a real close knit group,” he said.

“We’re all very well acquainted with each other. I think we have a lot of great leaders on

im Spillers, the new dean of Health, Exercise Science and Athletes, spent the last decade as the athletic director at Grossmont College and previously served as an associate athletic director at SDSU. Spillers talked about settling into his new position.

Q: With your experience, what are your primary concerns?

JS: At my tenure at San Diego State and Grossmont, it’s always been about promoting opportunity. It’s never really been about wins and loses, winning is fun, it’s nice to win, but it’s more about graduation and transfer.

Q: What attracted you to this job?

JS: This college has made a tremendous commitment to wellness, exercise science and athletics. Just the building we are sitting in right now (DeVore Stadium) is showing that commitment. This is going to be the epicenter for wellness here in the South Bay. Q: Ok, speaking on that, we have been to Grossmont Stadium.

JS: (Laughs) Well you must be using that term stadium loosely because boy that’s a big stretch.

Q: Stadiums are a hot button issue, from DeVore, to the Chargers trying to build a new stadium here.

What is your stance on the pros and cons of building a stadium and their exorbitant costs?

JS: Stadiums have a way of branding an institution. We are the maroon and gold, we are the Jaguars. Building a stadium can brand a college and I think this stadium is doing that as we speak. They also become great financial revenue centers, when you start looking at generating revenue streams i.e. rentals. If you look out right now on the field you’ll see Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals filming a commercial. It’s these opportunities, and I hate to be so cliché, but if you build it, they will come. When you think of The Big House, you think of the Michigan Wolverines. They have one of the best medical programs in the nation, if

not the world, but when you say Michigan people think of the 160,000 Wolverine fans every Saturday for home football games.

Q: Speaking of opportunities how about tennis at SWC? It has been six years since the “temporary” removal of tennis that was only supposed to last for two years.

JS: When we survey the student body to see what opportunities are not currently offered, women’s tennis keeps coming back to the top time and again on that list. So we will bring women’s tennis back, a year from now.

Q: I’ve heard that before. Don’t you have to appeal to approve the tennis budget?

JS: I will have to meet with my directory board and I will have to meet with (VP of Fiscal Services) Tim Flood to make sure that the budget is in place, but my understanding coming in is that tennis is on the docket for return in Spring 2017.

Q: What is your favorite sport to watch?

JS: I’m going to blow your mind. I love to watch water polo. When you get into it, it’s a fast game, there’s lots of action, lots of physicality, more than you’d think, and it’s over in an hour.

Q: Do you have any specific areas you want to improve upon that maybe we’re left unfinished before you were here that you want to focus in on?

JS: This next project (Prop R) will transform this college for the next 50 years and beyond.

So a little bit about my background, you can say I like to build things. When I was at SDSU I was the project liaison for athletics during the time Viejas Arena and The Arc were being built.

We built Tony Gwynn Stadium, we put a soccer track on top of a parking structure, so this is something that I like to do, having the opportunity to pick that ball up and continue is Alejandro Duran/Staff fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

Alberto Calderon, editor

SPORTS

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

Feb. 2 - Feb. 28, 2016—Vol. 59, Issue 4

B5

A push for the postseason Jaguars look to win their last two games to snag a playoff berth

Mary York/Staff

FIERY FRESH ARM— Freshman pitcher Abraham Rodriguez strikes out another hitter.

Baseball: Sophomores take charge and lead talented freshman roster Continued from pg. B4

Adriana Molina/Staff

TAKING THEIR BEST SHOT— DeLano Jones collects a rebound and looks to score in an impressive and much-needed 79-51 victory over Imperial Valley.

Rejuvinated Jags are growing up in time for playoffs

By Alberto Calderon Sports Editor

Once freshman sharpshooter DeLano Jones found his shot it was all over for the Imperial Valley College Arabs.

When he got his head together, his SWC teammates found their groove.

Southwestern pulled off a crucial 79-51 victory as it fights for a playoff spot. After a lackluster start to the season, the Jaguars found themselves forced to win their last three games for a post-season berth. One down, two to go.

Sophomore forward Marlon Cort said the players are not shying away from the pressure.

“We don’t mind having to go earn it,” he said. “This way if we get in we come with momentum. We aren’t just going to be happy to be there. When we are clicking this is a dangerous team. We could make a state championship run.”

Against Imperial Valley they came out with urgency, starting off with a 17-7 lead through the first 9 minutes.

Then they got artic cold, scoring just four points in the next eight minutes, letting the Arabs back into the game and jeopardizing their season. A series of open shots clanked off the rim as a self-defeating tension crept in.

Jones, the team’s leading scorer averaging 16 points per game, said he could not buy a bucket.

“The first half was very frustrating,” he said. “I kept missing shots I would normally make. I was getting down on myself, but my teammates told me to keep shooting.”

Head coach John Cosentino said his team was complacent.

“We got ahead by double digits and relaxed,” he said.

“DeLano wasn’t making them. They were good looks, though. He can be a streaky shooter.”

Jones’ temper has also been streaky. After receiving two technical fouls in a game for misconduct he was suspended

for one game by the league. In his next game back, Cosentino said DeLano began to act out again. This time the team suspended him for an additional game, a very unusual move for a team in playoff contention. Imperial Valley was his first game back in the lineup.

In the second half the revitalized Arabs looked to make it a competitive game, but SWC’s offense recovered, pouring in shots from all over the court, as Jags “In the beginning pulled away. Jones the catalyst, of the year we were was scoring 11 points overly confident in a three-minute stretch. based on the Cosentino said his team is gelling. success the team “This is one of our better games had last year.” playing together,” he said. “When Marlon Cort you make baskets you look like a real well-coached team. It improves your defense, your rebounding, everything.”

Jones said the suspensions changed his perspective.

“It was just immaturity,” he said. “Everyone learns lessons. That was mine. I stayed home and really thought about it. Coach told me I wasn’t going to be able to go to the game on Friday and that really broke me, not being able to be there with the guys who fight with me in practice.”

After last season’s stand-out team, which finished sixth in the state in scoring and second in rebounding, hopes were high for this year, but a lack of maturity has plagued the Jags. Several key players were nearly kicked off the team due to detrimental conduct.

Cort, one of the starters nearly suspended, said the issues almost derailed their season.

“In the beginning of the year we were overly confident based on the success the team had last year,” he said. “We knew it was a winning program and the coaches were great, but the biggest thing that we had to deal with was immaturity. We were coming in late for practice, talking back, just not being coachable. We got to a point where me and Damian looked at each other and said we can’t keep making the same mistakes.”

Cosentino said Cort and sophomore Damian Elam have curbed their behavior and have become the leaders of the team, helping to change the culture. In one of the games where Jones was suspended, Cort scored 22 points to lead the Jags to a dramatic overtime victory. Cosentino said he relies on their veteran examples to set the tone for the largely freshman squad, DeLano in particular.

“I’ve been coaching 41 years and DeLano is in the top 10 of talented offensive players I’ve ever coached, if he wants to put it together mentally,” Cosentio said. “It’s a process. You put trust in these guys hoping they can handle freedom. You have a kid and he stays in the house then he gets to go to the front yard, then he gets to go out in the neighborhood.

We might have put him in the neighborhood before he was ready. There’s a whole bunch of guys that can play. Go to parkway and there is a whole bunch of great athletes. But getting on the team. Going to class and listening. Being open. It’s a different thing.”

Cosentino said he hopes his team’s issues are behind them as they look to close out the season with two crucial victories.

“It seems like we are all on the same page now, especially when we win,” he said. “We need to string some good practices together and know that the teams in front of us have already beat us and now they stand between us and the playoffs.”

this team, although they’re not specifically labeled captains.”

SWC’s Fantastic Four leave an impression on and off the field. Bedsole’s control of the mound for seven solid innings and dignified exit. Third baseman Cody Simmons shaking hands with the freshmen defenders as they return to the dugout every inning.

“It’s one thing to yell and scream at the younger guys to focus more,” said Ramirez, “but when you see a veteran guy literally going 110 percent no matter what he’s doing, for me, that’s the biggest example of leadership. I think guys like Cody Simmons and Steven Sherwood have done a good job influencing me as far as what I need to do to contribute to the team like they do.”

Ramirez said Bedsole was as much a cheerleader as a pitcher. Head Coach Jay Martel said he is the kind of fast working ace the defense loves to play behind.

Bedsole said the sophomores take the responsibility of leadership seriously.

“There’s more of an emphasis on instilling the job,” said Bedsole of his fellow pitchers.

“For us, we need to throw strikes and get outs. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”

Cultivating a pitching staff that can be mean on the mound may make or break this season, said Martel.

“Defensively we’re very strong,” he said.

“We’ve got good team speed, but compared to what we’ve had in the past at SWC, I think our pitching is a little below average.”

Bedsole leads the staff with a 0.48 ERA over 18 innings.

“We’ve got some good arms,” said Martel.

“We’ve got to develop, we’ve got to throw strikes, we’ve got to work faster. I think we’ve got to pitch with confidence. We’ve got to have a little fight.”

Peterson said if the Jaguars work hard and mind the fundamentals, they could challenge Orange Coast College for the championship.

“If we continue to get the job done at practice and continue to do the little things during the game, it should come together,” he said. “I’m not worried at all.”

Spirited coach refuses to give up on women’s tennis program

By Chariti Niccole Staff Writer

Tennis is an individual sport.

Su s a n Re a s o n s h a s m a d e i t a community sport.

In July 2001 Reasons started a weekly tennis clinic with the goal of providing a place for people of all ages to develop tennis skills. Reasons had found her own game on the same courts.

Once a Jaguar, Reasons said, she always knew she would return.

“When I was a player on this team I knew I wanted to one day come back and give the experiences this program gave to me,” she said.

Reasons was a standout player at SWC, the MVP both years she competed. (In 2011she was inducted into the SWC Hall of Fame as a player and as a coach.)

She accepted a full tennis scholarship at the University of East Texas. All packed and ready to go, she said she changed her mind at the last minute.

“I didn’t want to leave San Diego,” she said. “I’ve always been in this kind of climate, so when it came down to getting ready to leave, I ultimately couldn’t do it.”

Instead she attended San Diego State University. After graduating with a degree in kinesiology, she began working in the community, running day camps and summer camps for kids.

In 2000 Reasons became SWC’s women’s tennis coach and transformed it into a powerhouse that produced university scholarship champions like Katalina Romero, who won the national

Kenslow Smith/Staff

GETTING WITH THE PROGRAM— Coach Susan Reasons instructing sisters Maya Chu, Sonali Chu and Valerie Yamashitafuji at her tennis clinic.

community college championship.

There was also Viridiana Martino, who thrived as a tennis player and a student, winning California Female Scholar Athlete of the Year 2006 and an engineering scholarship to USC. Today Martino is a construction engineer on the new Tijuana border pedestrian crossing.

SWC qualified for the regional

championships in singles and doubles every year Reasons was the coach. Even so, the SWC women’s tennis program was shut down in 2009 due to budget cuts. Reasons said she was blindsided by the news.

“I just couldn’t believe it, because it was one of the most successful programs and cheapest programs to run at the

college and I always had girls interested in playing,” she said. “I worked so hard to make everything successful, so I was devastated when the program was cut.”

Reasons turned her effort to the community program and she has many students who said they are thankful she did. Maya Chu, a freshman at Francis Parker School who attends the class with

her sister, said she attributes their growth to Reasons.

“Two years ago we started with Coach and we weren’t very good,” she said.

“Now our technique and skills have improved. We can actually play with people now.”

Her sister, Sonali Chu, agreed.

“During class I get to play against other people which has helped improve my skills, especially for high school tennis,” she said.

Reasons said she takes an old school approach. She gets to know the kids and their parents. She said there is always an open line of communication.

“If they need advice on raquets or equipment then they are calling me from the store on a Saturday morning,” Reasons said. “The parents even invite me to dinners, birthday parties and graduations.”

Valerie Yamashitafuji, a junior at Olympian High School, has had Reasons as a coach since she started playing tennis eight years ago. She started with the weekly clinics and now has private lessons once a week as well.

Yamashitfuji said she hears the advice of Reasons anytime she plays.

“Whenever I’m in a game I think to myself, ‘If coach was here what would she tell me?’”

Reasons said she invites anyone and everyone to give tennis a chance.

“The USTA ranks people all the way up to 95, so it doesn’t matter how old you are or how experienced you are, there is a place for you with tennis.”

B6

ARTS

The Southwestern College Sun

Februrary 2 - 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

Young artists channel old masters Toddlers paint bright future at CDC exhibit

ART WORLD’S NEW WAVE — (above) Jason Carpenter holds up his son, Evan, as his other son watches during the 7th Annual Child Development Art Exhibit. (below) Richard Lorente is happy with his artwork.

> REVIEW

By Kenslow Smith Assistant Arts Editor

T

here is a place where imaginary friends are still best friends and cardboard boxes can be spaceships and time machines.

Vast imaginations transformed the Southwestern College Student Art Gallery at the 7th Annual Child Development Center Art Exhibit. It featured brilliant drawings, watercolor paintings, sculptures and photography of students ages 2-5.

CDC program serves SWC staff, students and members of neighboring communities, providing daycare and early education for their children.

Unlike traditional daycares, CDC encourages kids to explore their artistic intellect.

Director Patricia Bartow said other schools are mostly concerned with children getting the right answers, while the CDC focuses on free expression and creativity.

“We really foster their individual thinking and who they are,” she said. “What’s important to us is what’s up here and in here,” she said, pointing to her mind and heart.

Inspired by the Reggio Emilio School in Italy, Bartow and her colleagues encourage children to explore their environment and express themselves through their natural languages, including art.

Mini GQ boys and Glamour girls in red carpet attire showed off their masterworks to their proud families. Avery Brunner, 2, made watercolors clash for dominance. A battle set upon a white canvas displayed more peace than aggression, as mixtures of green, blue and orange toward integration.

Reid Lorente, 3, used primary colors to create an infusion of watercolor. Black marker streaks chaotically drawn atop his painting wrangled his colors under control and gave depth to a work more than half his size.

Evan Carpenter brought his favorite animal, the giraffe, to life with use of a bright yellow, contrasted by hundreds of brown dots. Above to his giraffe was a whale and below were two lions. Outlined in black marker, Carpenter accentuated his giraffe by surrounding it with other colorless animals.

Although they can count their age on one hand, these blooming artists used their little fingers for digital photography. Students captured black and white portrait photos of their classmates and friends.

Adorable smiles, burst of laughter and serious mugs rounded out a mural of moments frozen in time, where these artists will not grow out of their creativity as they age.

Photos by Sergio Esparza

Mariachi calendar already full for 2016

By Andrew Perez Senior Staff Writer

It is the year of the monkey in China, but it is the Year of the Mariachi in San Diego County.

Quick, get Dr. Jeff Nevin on the horn!

Nevin, SWC’s peripatetic professor of music and global embassador, has polished his trumpet and waxed his baton as he continues his mission to spread the gospel of mariachi.

On March 11-13 he will help run the Fourth Annual National City Mariachi Festival and Competition.

Showcase performances and mariachi workshops conducted by renowned musicians from the UTPA Mariachi Aztlán, Sergio Caratachea Bio and Rigoberto Alfaro will kick off the event at the University of San Diego on March 11 and 12, with the main festival March 13 at Pepper Park in National City.

On April 3 SWC’s world-renown

SWC Mariachi Garibaldi will perform with the Mariachi Toreros from USD, Ballet Folklórico Tierra Caliente and the Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles at the Escondido Mariachi Festival.

Tickets can be purchased at http://mariachi78.org/.

On June 11-19 the Chacala Mariachi Institute will hold its first summer program at the Chacala and Mar de Jade Resort near Puerto Vallarta.

This weeklong program is composed of workshops designed for music teachers and college music students who seek to become music teachers. It contains two years of Mariachi curriculum, including master courses and ensemble rehearsals. Nevin and members of the Mariachi Champaña Nevin will conduct the courses.

The deadline for registration is March 15.

Next year is the 20th Anniversary

of the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation (MSF). Nevin serves as president of the foundation, which plans events to commemorate the anniversary.

“We are planning a concert with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Mariachi Champaña Nevin and the San Diego Symphony near the beginning of next school year, in August, to begin the celebration,” he said. “ The exact date isn’t announced yet so people will have to check the San Diego Symphony’s website to keep updated. We will also have our annual Dia de los Muertos concert next November, and the MSF partners every year with the National City Chamber of Commerce and USD on their Mariachi Conference and MariachiFest in the Spring.”

For further information on these and other Mariachi Scholarship Foundation events, contant Nevin at jeff@virtuosomariachi.com.

Courtesy Photo

GLOBE-TROTTING— Mariachi Garibaldi bows on stage at the International Folk Festival in Nova Petropolis, Brazil in 2014.

Cesar Hirsch, editor

ARTS

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

Feb. 2 - Feb. 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

B7

Illustration by Alejandro Duran

Fiery production to light up spring stage > PREVIEW

By Cesar Hirsch Arts Editor

L

i n d a L i b b y, i n h e r So u t h we s t e r n C o l l e g e directing debut, is playing with fire.

The award-winning actress is bringing to Mayan Hall Max Frisch’s fiery masterwork, “The Arsonists.”

Also known as “The Firebugs,” the 1958 play deals with the dangers of complacency and denial.

Disguised as door-to-door salesman,

arsonists terrorize a town, weaseling their way into people’s homes and setting them ablaze with oil drums. At the center of the play is Biedermann, a well-off businessman who, guarded by his success, thinks he will never be deceived, until the arsonists knock on his door.

Wrapped deep in metaphor and allegor y, this pungent political parable serves as a cautionary tale, with its message burning bright: do not conform against the face of terror.

Libby said that it is the plucky and offbeat nature of the play that made her choose to direct it.

“I’m drawn to edgy theatre that

entertains and engages the audience,” she said. “I chose this play because it’s funny and startling. The issues come straight out of today’s headlines.”

Absurd in its delivery, the dark comedy of Frisch’s words do not eclipse his serious reflections about human nature. These issues, says Libby, will appeal and engage the SWC audience.

“I think the students and community will love this play because it shines the light on the gullible side in all of us.

At first it’s very funny. Until it’s not.”

“The Arsonists” runs March 15 – 20 at Mayan Hall. Tickets are $8 for students.

Mayan Hall March 15-19: 7:30pm March 20: 2pm Student tickets $8

Provocative exhibit scorns treatment of black men > REVIEW

By Kenslow Smith Assistant Arts Editor

It was a hard message on the wall of the SWC Art Gallery, but a message we need to talk about.

“In tribute of the 102 unarmed black people who were killed by the police in 2015.”

It is a lot to soak in.

I understood these words’ meaning, but struggled to accept them. Not because I questioned their validity, but because I recognized their truth.

Dr. Rachel N. Hastings, curator of “The Dialogue,” a Black History Month event, said the main focus of the interactive exhibit was to advocate for human connection through reflection of the status of black men in America.

“When it comes to advocating you’re really becoming an ally of that group you’re aligning yourself with,” she said. “It’s more then ‘I’m going to pick up a sign and demonstrate.’

Advocating is activating ideas so that we can see the type of change implemented all the way through.”

Hastings, an assistant professor of communications, challenged students to create a form of expression, to engage viewers, and gather their different experiences into the conversation of racism and social injustice in America.

“It’s not just about one particular point

of view,” she said. “We just use black men has the catalyst to open up dialogue across different forms.”

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram hashtags are provided throughout the gallery to give viewers an opportunity to engage in the dialogue.

Dialogue’s #dontforget challenge, encourages viewers to remember the lives of black men and share a positive memory of them.

Entering the gallery is like walking into a cemetery. Names such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin are inscribed in black marker upon gray headstones made of cardboard. Food cans are tucked with red and yellow paper flowers accompanying the headstones resting on green artificial turf.

I walked down the alley of graves leading to a mirror on a large wall festooned with white crucifixes, flowers and names and dates of black people killed by police.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror the message became clear, I could be one of these names among this wall, among these graves, another life lost to violence and prejudice.

Hastings said that was one of the points the exhibit wanted to make.

“When you walk in here and see the names of the black men who have fallen at the hands of the police, also remember that for everyone there is another who is still here, “ Hastings said. “Men who are not the stereotype of the absent father or criminal.”

Walls blossomed with poetry and pictures of SWC students of color, as well as artwork and photography by Ronald Williams,

Photo by David Hodges

SILENT PROTEST SHOUTS AT INJUSTICE — DeVonte Roberts kneels before a mirror that is part of an interactive art exhibit that put the spotlight on the killings of black men by American police. “The Dialogue” is running at the SWC Art Gallery during Black History Month.

David Hodges and Charles Goodman III. These same gallery walls are lined with black prison bars, imprisoning the beauty, which exists behind them.

These bars represented a feeling I carry with me everyday, the feeling of being a beautifully flawed human being who at times feels more like a monster because of the perception of people towards my color.

No matter how many degrees I receive or how much success I achieve, I will always be a black man, and therefore subject to a perception that has plagued my people for 500 years.

In 2016 we are still communicating the same frustrations, asking America to listen.

Being black in America is like screaming help in a room full of people pretending they cannot hear you.

Hope ensues. “The Dialogue” is already spurring discussion, Hastings said.

“People are talking about the prison crisis, people are talking about incarcerated women and the ways in which they are still being shackled when they have children in prison.”

Students contributed by sharing their thoughts on two large chalkboards. Some were philosophical. “I am more than what

you see…I am a melting pot of races,” read one. All comments had a core theme, captured with two big bold words, “One Love.”

America often pretends as if racism and social injustice are not real for the sake of comfort. We do not talk about these problems for the sake of comfort.

A timeless message by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. illuminated the exhibit.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Michelangelo believed that a sculptor was a tool of God and that it was his job to merely reveal the figure already lying beneath the rock, to breathe life into God’s very own artwork.

And in this respect, he nearly succeeded. Many believe that Michelangelo left these statues unfinished on purpose, to show humans attempting to break free of their trappings and to reach a semblance of heavenly freedom.

A 13-minute walk from the Accamedmia is one of the most impressive collections of statues I have ever seen, the Loggia dei Lanzi, a majestic building with wide arches open to the street. Located inside the Piazza della Signoria square, next to the the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Vecchio (the town hall of Florence), the Loggia dei Lanzi is grand and mesmerizing. Full of everything from snarling lions to Greek Gods to centaurs to human representations of the four cardinal virtues (Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance and Justice), the Loggia is a feast for the eyes.

In here one can find “Perseus with the Head of Medusa,” a rather grisly bronze sculpture depicting the Greek hero standing erect, triumphantly holding the severed head of the Gorgon, the bloody gristle dripping from the fresh wound. My favorite statue was “The Rape of the Sabine Women,” which shows an incident in Roman mythology where the first men of Rome acquired their wives by abducting the neighboring women of the Sabine people. I found myself coming to this statue again and again. I was transfixed by the intricate, snake-like design, how the three figures intertwined and seemed to flow into one another. I have never seen anything like it and it truly shows the brilliance of great sculpting.

While the North side of the Arno has all the famous landmarks such as the Accademia, Duomo, Uffizi and others, it was l’oltrarno, everything that is on the other side of the river, where I felt more at home. It is a quaint and relaxed respite from the hustle and bustle of its sister side.

Here lie the secret passages of Florence, the hidden treasures that are there for those who bother to look.

One of the many gems on this side of the river is Il Museo di Storia Naturale (The Museum of Natural History), otherwise known as “La Specola,” one of the most interesting and oddest museums ever built.

It opened its doors in 1775 and until the early 19th century was the only scientific cabinet of curiosities open to the public. Here one can find a menagerie of taxidermy animals. Lions, tigers, apes, squirrels, lizards and even a hippo are among some of the animals on display in all manner of creative poses. Much care is given to the presentation of these animals and they look as if they are ready to come alive at any moment.

This museum is not without a sense of humor either. In the ape room, right next to the Chimpanzees, there is an empty case with the label “Homo Sapien” on the bottom. The visitor is invited to get into the case and strike a pose. It is almost as if the curators are saying, “Just wait. We’ll all end up here one day, too.”

“La Specola’s” real claim to fame, however, is its large collection of anatomical wax models, one of the largest in the world. Visceral and disturbing, the 10 rooms dedicated to the models are strewn with eyeballs, penises, uteruses, brains and other assortments of body parts along the walls. In the middle of each room lie full bodies, each depicting a different system in the human body. Veins, muscles, skin, bone, everything is on display. A look of pain flits across each specimen’s face and many times I almost forgot that these were wax and not actual dissected humans.

Despite my affinity for all things morbid, my favorite spots in all of Florence were the Bardini and Boboli Gardens, two lush estates located in l’oltrarno. I found the Boboli to be too crowded and hectic for my tastes and I preferred the much more intimate Bardini. please see Florence pg. B3

Art

February 2 - February 28, 2016 — Volume 59, Issue 4

WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN — (above) A lone street artist between passersby chalks up the streets of Florence. (right) A statue in the streets of Florence illustrates the abundance of art. (far right) Giambologna’s “The Rape of the Sabine Women” shocks sensitive tourists at the Loggia dei Lanzi. (background) The summer sun sets on the Ponte Santa Trinita across the Arno River.

FLORENCE, Italy – In the city of Florence, art is not just something you do to pass the time, it is a way of life.

Creativity is everywhere. It is in the streets, in the churches, in the blood. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Dante, Machiavelli and other great intellects once roamed the city’s narrow streets, lost in thought, adrift in a sea of ideas.

Florence is a creator’s city and I was living in the center of it all as part of Southwestern College’s Fall 2015 Study Abroad Program. For two and a half glorious months, 25 students lived and breathed Italian cultura.

We were welcomed on arrival by a warm and hearty late-summer breeze that seemed to have brought with it millions of incessantly buzzing mosquitos that hover above the polluted emerald waters of the Arno River. It was going to take a lot more than some pesky insects to keep me from enjoying my short time in one of the greatest and most revered cities in the world.

Known as Firenze to natives, Florence is the capital of the Tuscany region in Central Italy. It is a relatively small city where most choose to travel by foot instead of by macchina.

Virtually everything is within a 30-minute walk.

Florence grew up alongside the Arno River, which splits it in two. On the north side is a majority of Florence’s well-known monuments and landmarks, while the south, l’oltrarno (which literally means everything on “the other side of the Arno”), is more picturesque and relaxed.

Tourism is concentrated in the north for obvious reasons. This is where all the action is and the streets become suffocated with loud, rude, fanny pack-wearing tourists who ruin the experience for the rest of us. After three weeks of living in Florence, I had had just about enough of them impolitely jostling me at every turn. If Dante were to write his “Divine Comedy” today, there would most definitely be a special circle in Inferno made specifically for the inventor and users of the dreaded selfie stick.

I frequently strolled the dark streets at night listening to classical music on my iPod and contemplating the universe, life and everything in between. Florence is a great place for imagination and my thoughts would go wild with ideas for stories and poems. I would always end my walks at the Ponte Vecchio bridge looking into the depths of the Arno, wondering what an insignificant person like me was doing in a magical place like this.

When I was not in school, I spent every waking hour visiting everything I could in the city.

What I found myself most amazed by were the sculptures that decorated the city. I had never really given much thought to sculpture as an art form, but in Florence I found myself studying each one, wondering how the artists could turn a monolith of smooth stone into such works of intricate beauty.

The Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze (Gallery of the Academy of Florence), located on the North side of the Arno, is home to the most famous sculpture in the world. Here resides the Michelangelo masterpiece “David.” This 17-foot tall nude marble statue depicting the biblical hero who slew Goliath stood outside the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria Square for 369 years until it was moved inside the Accamedmia in 1873 (a replica was later erected outside the Palazzo in 1910). Nothing compares to the awe of staring into “David’s” white eyes and stern, hypnotic face. To be in the presence of such a beautifully chiseled masterpiece is enough to cause Stendhal Syndrome (also known as Florence Syndrome, caused by exposure to great art of natural beauty).

Il Accademia also houses some of Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures. Located in what is known as the “Hall of Prisoners” corridor leading up to the “David,” these four abandoned sculptures depict “prisoners” (alternately known as “slaves” and “captives”) meant to represent the imprisonment of the soul to the flesh, showing that humans are nothing more than slaves to their own follies. These figures are truly unsettling, looking as if they are struggling to break free from the marble that has taken hold of them.

STORY & PHOTOS BY ANDREW PEREZ / Staff Writer

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