Generation gap

Why adults are to blame for

wrecking Facebook.

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DVC demolishes CCC

Vikings beat rival Contra Costa 64-15 on Saturday.

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Students returned this fall to a smoke-free cam-pus, but the new policy – which restricts smoking to the parking lots – contains no formal enforcement provisions.

Instead, it relies on posted no-smoking signs, as well as “the initiative of non-smokers to politely re-quest that smokers comply and the courtesy of smok-ers to acknowledge the re-strictions and comply.”

Campus police are not involved in enforcement.

Bill Oye, dean of student life, said he walks through the quad regularly, asking anyone smoking to stop.

“If they fail to cooperate, especially if it is obvious to me that I have spoken

with them before, then that would be a violation of the student code of conduct,” Oye said.

According to the Stu-dent Code of Conduct, Oye said, repeat violators are subject to suspension. However, it is unclear how violations will be tracked.

President Judy Walters said she approves of the change, calling it “a very collaborative effort.” She was not involved in the decision, she said.

Oye said students had complained about the amount of cigarette smoke on campus, especially near classrooms.

“They were very frus-trated,” he said. “Some suffered from asthma and could not walk through the main quad,” Oye said. “They actually have a right to be on campus, to use

services that are in the quad.”

In the past, Oye said, students caught smoking near classrooms would “play games,” claiming they were walking to the quad or pretending not to know of the rule.

The new policy aims to

eliminate any gray areas by making a clear distinc-tion between smoking and non-smoking places.

Still, he acknowledged the difficulties involved in navigating the quad in pre-

Oksana YurovskyStaff Writer

Budget cuts hit neediest

Non-smokers forced to police new rule in quad

Last guilty buyer could face prison

While many students be-gan the semester scram-bling for open classes, the budget crisis slammed down even harder on DVC’s neediest students.

Specially funded pro-grams were cut from 16 to 62 percent for under-prepared students or stu-dents with disabilities or who face language or eco-nomic barriers.

These so-called “cat-egorical” programs include Disabled Support Services (DSS), Extended Opportu-nity Programs and Servic-es (EOPS), CalWORKS (which helps poor parents get through school) and Matriculation, which makes sure students meet their educational goals through admissions, orientation, assessment, counseling and follow-up.

DVC’s matriculation funding was cut 62 per-cent, from more than $1 million last academic year to under $400,000 this year.

“I have never seen cuts this drastic to any pro-gram,” said Matricula-tion Dean Beth Hauscar-

riague, who has worked in community colleges for 19 years. “The services we provide are all so critical to a student’s success.”

So far, her program has reduced its counseling services, slashed its infor-mation center staff by 50 percent and suspended the English assessment test until November, Haus-carriague said.

DVC officials had ex-pected to cushion the blow to matriculation and the other categorical program with an expected $130 million the state was to receive from the federal stimulus package.

But last week, they learned the state would only be given $37 million. And that money does not have to go to matriculation and the other specially funded programs.

Under the state’s rein-terpretation of the federal guidelines, it can now be spent elsewhere on cam-pus, including expenses normally paid out of the general fund budget.

“It’s significantly less than we originally thought,” said Hascarriague. “It

Students will find it more difficult to receive help at the English Tu-toring Lab this semester, as DVC tightens its financial belt in antici-pation of budget cuts.

Located on the first floor of the Learning Center, the lab is has cut back its daily hours by one, Mondays through Thursdays, and fewer tutors are available to help students.

Though both drop-in and ap-pointment tutoring is still offered, the English Tutoring Lab is trying

to operate in a “fiscally respon-sible and conservative” manner, said lab coordinator Heather Lee.

“We’re waiting to see how the budget influences our ability to provide tutoring,” Lee said, adding that this semester is a “trial run” in anticipation of future changes.

Overall, however, the outlook is grim. “Given what’s going on in the state, we’re waiting for the axe to fall,” said Heidi Goen-Salter, who oversees the Learning Center’s English programs.

While drop-in hours are

Christian VillanuevaStaff Writer

Oksana YurovskyStaff Writer

Tutoring slows down as budget cuts loom

The cash-for-grades scandal that has rocked the college since it be-came public in 2007 will come to a close Oct. 30 with the sentencing of the last remaining defendant, convicted grade buyer Khalid Nemati.

Nemati was found guilty Sept. 2 of one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud after 12 witnesses testified against him during a five-day trial at the Martinez Superior Court House.

Nemati now faces up to three years in state pris-on.

“This trial was different because [Nemati] was a

middle man,” said Dodie Katague, the deputy dis-trict attorney who oversaw all of the grade sale trials. “He didn’t actually change any grades; he just passed money from the buyers to the people working in the admissions and records office.”

Nemati’s conviction marks the end of the grade sale trials; there are now only appeals left before the scandal is finally over.

Sumiar Arif who was convicted last March of a single misdemeanor count of conspiracy and sen-tenced to 75 days of home detention, is appealing his conviction in hopes of having it overturned by a

Ariel Messman-RuckerEditor-in-chief

See SMOKING, page 4

See CUTS, page 4

See GRADES, page 4See TUTORS, page 4

A group of students work in the tutoring center on self-paced programs on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Services to students could be reduced due to upcoming budget cuts.

Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

Indah Kusumawardhani, 19, studies alone in the tutoring cen-ter on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

Max Mannich lights up in the quad between classes on Tuesday Sept. 15, 2009.

2Thursday, September 17, 2009

DVC’s carousel of athletic directors has ended with the hiring of Christine Worsley.

Worsley will be the Vikings’ second athletic director in the last two years after longtime director Steve Ward stepped down in the spring of 2007.

Worsley brings experience coming from a Division III school, Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she spent the last eight years as the associate director of athletics, a senior women’s administrator and director of sports medicine, which meant she was at the sporting events as an athletic trainer.

Worsley comes to DVC in the midst of a massive state budget crisis, which, among other things, has forced DVC’s athletic teams to cut games across the board.

“I think people who are from around here don’t understand that it’s happening every-where,” she said. “There are budget cuts that are hap-pening across the country. It was happening where I was coming from.”

Worsley grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and her former school RIT is also located on the East Coast, which makes a new location just one of the adjustments she has to make.

But her husband is an Acalanes High School gradu-ate and the one who saw the job advertised.

“When this position presented itself, my husband wanted to come back to California, and this position was exactly where I wanted to be,” Worsley said.

Her husband is still at RIT and will stay there through the year in order to fi nish the season as RIT’s volleyball coach.

But the biggest adjustment is the jump from Divi-sion III to a community college, she said.

“Coming to a junior college, challenges are a little bit different,” Worsley said. “In a four

year, you have athletes longer, and you have a longer time to prepare them for their career outside of athletics.”

The academic challenges are differ-ent as well, she said. Students look to move on to a four-year school, and they want to go where they could possibly get a scholarship.

Men’s basketball coach Steve Coc-cimiglio said Worsley faces a chal-lenging learning curve, because “it’s

all new.”“I’ll support her,” he said. “She seems like a solid,

good, high–energy, intelligent person.” Football coach Mike Darr said, “We’re just getting to

know each other, but she seems very organized and will be a very hard worker. She understands some of the demands with the budget and recruiting rules and just this level in general.”

Worsley said she has the beginnings of a strategic plan, which includes creating an educational support system for student athletes, building alumni relations, and getting athletics to become a more inclusive part of campus life.

Worsley’s experience in the sports fi eld isn’t limited to her administrative work.

She started out in science exercise physiology and worked with cardiac patients as a clinician in a hospital before going back to school and earning a certifi cate as an athletic trainer and a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Utah.

Worsley has worked at some notable Division I schools as an athletic trainer, Hawaii and Utah being among them.

“All those positions are important,” Worsley said. “When you’re an administrator it’s important for you to have experience in the ‘trenches’ to really understand what your staff does.

“It gives you a different perspective on how to man-age. So when you’re making decisions, you un-

derstand how it’s going to affect them.”

Curtis Uemura Staff Writer

DVC’s potent offense, led by freshman quarterback Blake Wayne, dominated Contra Costa College en route to a 64-15 manhandling on Saturday.

Wayne led the offense, completing 10 of 11 passes for 204 yards and three touchdowns. He even completed eight straight passes at one point.

Wayne also was a threat on the ground, rushing for two scores and using his mo-bility to routinely elude the Comets’ pass rush.

“He’s a kid who does everything the right way,” said head coach Mike Darr. “It takes a lot of pressure off a lot of people, but it also forces guys to step up their game and their preparations.”

Wayne said the win gave the team confi dence, because they know what they are capable of doing.

“We didn’t play our best football, and we still dominated pretty well,” Wayne said. “The team knows that once we play our best, we are going to be pretty hard to stop.”

After the fi rst series of the game, it looked as if the Vikings’ defense might be in for a long day.

Preseason All-American defensive lineman Josh Nunu went down with an ankle injury on the second play of the game and would not return.

“We expect him to be back this week,” Darr said. “By the end of the game he had gotten rid of the crutches.”

Without Nunu the rest of the Viking de-fense stepped up and held the Comets’ offense to seven points for three quar-ters, only allowing another score after the game was out of reach.

The defense was led by linebacker An-drew Halafi hi who notched three sacks and was unstoppable rushing off the edge.

DVC totaled six sacks in the game and was constantly in the backfi eld put-ting pressure on Contra Costa’s quarter-back.

It wasn’t just the pass rush that ex-celled. The Vikings’ secondary was a step ahead of the Comets the whole game, constantly jumping routes and

coming up with three interceptions. Darr wasn’t entirely happy with his sec-ondary after the game.

“They made more mental mistakes than they did against Sierra [College],” Darr said. “Some little things have to get worked out before we get to teams who are going to make us pay for them.”

The fi rst interception set the tone for the Vikes, as cornerback Maurice Moore intercepted a Comets’ pass in the end zone and returned it all the way to DVC’s 49 yard line late in the fi rst quarter to set up a rushing touchdown by Wayne.

“As a member of the defense, I can say that we were overall happy with our per-formance but disappointed in our energy level all game,” safety Naeem Forrester said. “We missed a few assignments which resulted in Contra Costa scoring more than once.”

The Vikings wide receivers supplied big plays throughout the game, with Michael Adan catching two 48-yard touchdown passes and Daniel Adler adding both a 36 and 12-yard touchdown catch.

Both receivers totaled more than 200 yards combined in the game, with Adler having a game high 104 yards receiv-ing.

Adler also racked up 66 yards on kick returns, even having an 80-yard return for a touchdown nullifi ed due to a pen-alty.

“To have a receiving core like this, it makes things easier,” Wayne said. “I’m not just relying on one guy. Both them and my offensive line were key in the game.”

Lavonte Green led the rushing attack with 79 yards and a touchdown on only four carries, including a 53-yard touch-down run late in the second quarter.

With the win, the Vikings improve to 1-1 on the year.

DVC rebounded from a tough loss to Sierra in the season opener, which saw the Vikes stay with the No. 2-ranked team in the state only to give up a couple of big plays to seal their fate.

The Vikings play host to Los Medanos College on Friday, Sept. 18.

The Mustangs are 2-0 on the year and have the state’s No. 3-ranked offense and No. 2-ranked defense.

Curtis UemuraStaff Writer

Newcomer ready for DVC sports

Vikings prevail after close defeat

Photos by Linda Wolf / The Inquirer

How do you feel about the smoking ban?

Self-expression stifled by music industry

Editorial BoardEditor in chief: Ariel Messman-RuckerNews editor: Curtis UemuraFeatures editor: Nick SestanovichEntertainment editor: Troy PattonSports editor: Christian VillanuevaOpinions editor: Kate VasilyevaOnline editor: Chris CorbinPhoto chief: Chris Corbin, Ariel Messman-Rucker

StaffPhotographers: Adam Chrysler, Court-ney Johnson, Char Smith, Jessica Emler, Sarah KimCartoonist: Elise AcredoloReporters: Chelsea Reed, Ingrid Al-maraz, Julie George, Linda Wolf, Oksana YurovskyInstr. lab coordinator: Ann StenmarkFaculty Advisor: Jean Dickinson

The InquirerDiablo Valley College

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The Inquirer is published on Thurs-day mornings during the school year by the journalism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and reflect a two-thirds

majority opinion of the editorial staff. All signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artist and not necessarily those of the Inquirer, Diablo Valley College of the Contra Costa Community College District.

Phone: 925.685.1230 ext. 2313Fax: 925.681.3045

E-mail: inquirer@dvc.eduWeb: www.dvc.edu/journalism

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State budget cuts pick on most needy

Limouges Isom, 22Broadcasting Major

“People are gonna do what they want. This is America. People gonna do the wrong thing, people gonna do the right thing.”

Interviewer: Julie George, Chelsea ReedPhotographer: Adam Chrysler

Winner of the 2008 JACCGeneral Excellence Award

Real meaning of tolerance lost in translation

Deborah Smith, 19Personal Training

Major

“I like it. I don’t think there’s a way to enforce it. It’s nice to be able to breathe when you walk through the quad.”

Andy O’Connell, 23Engineering Major

“I don’t smoke, but I think they should be able to do it [in the quad]. I think they’re achieving their goal. I see less smoking there.”

Gong Cheng, 19Computer Science

Major

“It’s not very effective. There are still smokers in [the quad]. If they want the whole campus no-smoking, they have to get it off the camus, including parking lots.”

3Thursday, September 17, 2009

Last year, I put together a slideshow on the history of gay rights in America, containing well over 100 stills of the recent battle over Proposi-tion 8 and set to the R.E.M. song “Final Straw.”

I later uploaded it to YouTube.Thinking such a topical issue would generate many hits, I eager-ly awaited feed-back.

But hours later, I went to revisit my video and could not hear the music. Something

wasn’t right. I toggled the volume, hoping to hear sound, but my speakers only emitted silence.

Then I saw a note at the bottom of the screen:

“This video contains an audio track not authorized by WMG and the audio has been disabled.”

Yes, because I used an R.E.M. song, Warner Music Group removed the audio because they feared I had “stolen” their music. A lovely ges-ture when you consider my video was now a se-ries of images without a fitting track to tie them together.

I’m not the first to fall victim to WMG’s fas-cism.

Thousands of videos have had their entire au-dio removed simply because somebody chose to use an AC/DC riff.

I understand the record industry is losing steam, but this is overreacting.

The third largest music company in the world shouldn’t be offended by the fact that some peo-ple actually like their artists enough to cover or artistically interpret their songs.

Yes, there’s the issue of questionable content.

I won’t argue with that. Lynyrd Skynyrd would probably not want “Sweet Home Alabama” in a pro-KKK video. That’s why you have to ask art-ists for their input. If they see no problem with it, why censor it?

In the case of my video, Michael Stipe, R.E.M.’s lead singer, is gay and an outspoken political activist.

WMG should stop muting vid-eos. Including or reinterpreting their artists’ songs is not “the end of the world as we know it.”*

*And please don’t remove the ink from this ar-ticle because I quoted an R.E.M. song.

“Hours after uploading it, I went to revisit my video and could not hear the music.”

“Tolerance” has become quite the buzzword. But you won’t find its new meaning in a dic-

tionary. We’ve cheapened it to, “Let’s just get along.”

Today’s “toler-ance” implies fully affirming every opinion, every be-havior, and every value system.

So let’s test it. Tolerate:

1) “There is no god, no spiritual dimension.”

2) “There is no way of truly knowing spiritual truth.”

3) “There is one God, one way to heaven.”Did I leave out anyone to offend? I hope not! I

wouldn’t want to be exclusive.

If you hold passionately to any one of the above three statements, it’s likely that someone will just as passionately disagree with you. And, in this postmodern world, neither of you will be applauded for your intensity.

Here are the new rules:Never ever suggest that one belief system or

standard is universally true, because there is no room for “intolerance” in “tolerance.”

And since every view is to be treated as valid, exclusivity is shunned. It’s not nice to differ, so just focus on the slivers of common ground that every side can affirm. Be politically correct and simply agree to disagree.

But this doesn’t lead to peace. When you don’t talk out your conflicts, you

cannot resolve them or even properly respect them.

Sweeping things under the rug may bring tem-porary relief, but the mess is still not cleaned up.

Soon the rug bulges up and trips you. It is a cop-ing strategy that offers no resolution.

True tolerance is exemplified in patience and compassion for people, not leniency toward er-ror, hypocrisy and lies.

We shouldn’t “tolerate” every-thing. Examples like hate, lazy stupidity, pious double standards and corruption come to mind.

Let us be com-passionate to all people.

But let us also be eloquent in our argumenta-tion, although never arrogant, firm but never un-loving.

“True tolerance is exemplified in patience... not leniency toward error, hypocracy and lies.”

Facebook: for the young, not young at heartFacebook is a great way to stay connected with

friends. But the “People You May Know” feature no longer includes just my classmates.

It now contains the names and pictures of my friends’ parents, my teachers and, of all people,

my own parents.It’s a bit ridicu-

lous.Facebook was

originally targeted to students, but the

times-they-are-a-changing.

Now I’m stuck in silly dilemmas, such as deciding whether to accept my dad’s request to be my “friend.”

The truth is that few of these adults know how to use Facebook.

Just last month, I found my mom staring into her laptop, looking puzzled.

“How do I send an inbox message?” she asked me.

Oh no, she had made a Facebook account.Even with my help, it still took 20 minutes for

her to send a three-sentence message. Oh, Mom.Then there are the 40-something co-workers

who are confused about Facebook. One needed my assistance to add photos to his

page. Another said her friends had helped her make an account, but she had no idea what was going on with her page.

“I have all these friends,” she said frantically, “But I don’t know who they are or how they got there.”

And then there are the adults who are just way too into the “Facebook scene.”

One friend complains her mother is always on Facebook and trying to talk to her friends. On top of it all, she posts embarrassing family pho-

tos and “tags” her in all of them.Maybe it’s because our generation is too “In-

ternet savvy.” Or maybe it’s because Facebook just isn’t for adults.

For the record I added my dad, simply put-ting him under the friends list “adults” along with everyone else’s parents.

There, he will be blocked from a few things like certain photo al-bums.

Not that I have anything to hide but there should be some privacy between chil-dren and their parents.

The state’s decision to drastically cut funding for programs that serve low-income students and those with disabilities exposes a political re-ality: In difficult times, the needi-est will be sacrificed, because they have the least political clout.

These specially funded programs include Disabled Support Services; EOPS, which assists low-income students by providing counseling and book vouchers; CalWORKS, which helps poor parents get through school: and Matriculation, which helps students meet their ed-ucational goals through admissions, assessment, and counseling.

On top of these state cuts – which range from 16 to 62 percent – Cali-fornia received only $37 million from the federal stimulus package, far from an expected $130 million that was supposed to offset the

blow. As a result, DSS eliminated tu-

toring and a special skills class, while EOPS sacrificed its work study program and limited tutoring hours. CalWORKS let go two of its hourly employees, and matricu-lation funding was reduced to less

than $400,000 from more than $1 million last year.

These kinds of cuts have a devas-tating impact. They send a message that you are not welcome at DVC, if you are poor, have a disability or are underprepared for college work.

Why couldn’t these cuts be spread

across the entire campus, thereby targeting all programs, rather than the burden of failing on just a few?

Granted, the district and colleges are gearing up for big cuts in their general fund budgets, with classes being deleted from the spring and summer schedules and operating expenses to be sharply curtailed.

Still, the district could dip more deeply into its $29 million reserve funds to cushion the blow to our most vulnerable students.

And can we be assured that the cuts to these programs were made to preserve essential services to stu-dents?

Or did they preserve certain jobs at students’ expense?

In these crucial times, such ques-tions demand answers. Equality and fairness should be the principles that guide such important decisions.

“The truth is that few of these adults know how to use Facebook.”

Julie GeorgeStaff writer

Nick SestanovichFeatures editor

Linda WolfStaff writer

Elise Acredolo / The Inquirer

Every Monday and Wednesday Debate Team meetings PAC 106 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

August 31 – Wednesday, Sept 30Faculty Art ShowThe Art Gallery11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Tuesday Sept 15Mills CollegeTransfer Center10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. by appointment11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Drop-In

Thursday, Sept 17San Francisco State University visitsThe Transfer Center10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. by appointment 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Drop-In

Brown Bag Lecture - Issues Surrounding Prop 8SU 20412:30p.m.

Friday, Sept 18Football gameDVC vs. LMC7 p.m.

Monday, Sept 21Sacramento State University visitsThe Transfer Center10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Appointments & Drop-In

Wednesday, Sept 23Life Chiropractic College West visitsMain Quad10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Volleyball gameDiablo Valley Classic DVC Gym1 p.m.

Thursday, Sept 24WOMBA book reading and snacksTrophy Room 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept 29CSU East Bay visitsThe Counseling Center9 a.m. – 12 p.m. by appointment12 p.m. – 1 p.m. Drop-In

Saturday, Oct 3 Art of Nature Exhibit Reception Library, 2nd floor in l-218 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct 28 Chapman University Main Quad 11 a.m.—1 p.m. Drop-In

CLASSIFIED PLACEMENT

INFORMATION

$1.50 a line2 line minimum. 32 char-acters per line includes punctuation & spaces

Copy and payment due the Monday before pub-lication date.

For more information call 925.685.1230 ext 2313 or stop by The Inquirer office.

Calendar

4Thursday, September 17, 2009

August 11, 2009

Parking lot 8A vehicle was towed after a subject was cited and released for no front plates, expired registration and for being an unlicensed driver.

Silent Witness: Working together to solve crime, The Silent Witness tip line provides a means of communica-tion for members of the campus community to provide District Police with information on crimes or suspects on campus. Tipsters can give information anonymously.

Lost and Found is located at Police Services. People who have lost or found items may come into Police Ser-vices Monday thru Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Police Beat

The Oct. 15 deadline is fast approaching for DVC to prove it no longer deserves to be one step away from losing its ac-creditation.

Citing the “enormous amount of work done over the past eight months, President Judy Walters said, “We have had a lot of people involved…with this process, and that’s very important to DVC as a college community.”

The Accrediting Com-mission for the Commu-nity and Junior Colleges

stunned the college com-munity last February when it placed DVC on “show-cause” status after it’s evaluation team found seven deficiencies, four of them unaddressed from a 2002 accreditation report.

A key focus prior to summer break was clari-fying the college’s deci-sion-making process and implementing “a participa-tory process to advance [DVC’s] mission and goals,” as required.

Ted Wieden, interim dean of curriculum and instruction, said his work group met weekly from Feb. 20 to May 8 on a re-structuring plan with four new committees, includ-ing a “College Council” that consists of an equal number of managers, fac-ulty, staff and students and makes recommendations to the president.

Two of the new com-mittees – the Integration

Council and the Facili-ties and Space Allocation Committee – report to the College Council, while the third, the Enrollment Management Committee, reports to the vice presi-dents of student services and instruction.

“Our plan is to have the four new committees op-erating by Oct. 1,” Walters said.

Another focus.was to add the words “student learning” to the college’s mission statement.

“While the college had alluded to student learning in its philosophy statement in its strategic plan, we didn’t have that phrase in the introductory sentences to our mission statement,” said Faculty Senate Vice President Keith Mikolav-ich. .

In its report of last year, the commission’s evalua-tion team also found the college had only identified

and or assessed student learning outcomes for 192 of its more than 1,200 courses and for 21 of its 101 programs.

Walters said student learning outcomes have since been developed for all DVC programs.

Computer sciences de-partment chair Robert Burns, said the learning outcomes for 98 percent of the college’s 1,275 in-dividual courses are now completed.

.Despite long work days that stretched into the summer, faculty, staff and managers seemed opti-

mistic. “I witnessed my colleagues give of them-selves in a way that has renewed my faith in this great college,” Mikolavich said.

The report goes to the college district governing board Sept. 30, and then Oct. 15 to the Commis-sion, which will send an evaluation team to the col-lege between Oct. 19 and Nov. 19.

The college will not hear any official statement from the Commission about its accreditation status until after it meets in late Janu-ary.

“I witnessed my colleagues give of themselves in a way that has renewed my faith in this great college.”

- Keith MikolavichFaculy senate vice president

Troy PattonStaff Writer

DVC shapes up for visitReadying report to lift threat to its standing

Cuts...Continued from page #

changes every day, [and] it makes it very hard to plan.”

Hascarriague said all areas have been reduced or cut in some fashion.

“We cannot continue to op-erate in the way we have been operating,” she added.

DSS, which serves about 1,564 students with disabili-ties, cancelled all tutoring, eliminated a learning skills class and let go the hourly staff that helped with adap-tive physical education, said Stacey Shears, DSS manager.

“We really need volun-teers,” Shears said.

DSS takes notes, translates, sets up special computers, and accommodates students who need help or more time on tests.

“It really impacts their suc-cess and even their ability to access higher education,” Shears said.

EOPS helps poor students and those who are unfamiliar with the process of going to college.

It was forced to reduce its book voucher amounts, re-duce tutoring hours and the

number of subjects offered, stop its work study program, suspend parent grants to some students who no longer quali-fy, and cut summer programs to save money for this year.

The program will only serve about 800 students this year, around 250 fewer than last year, said EOPS director Emily Stone.

“EOPS is very much about access,” said Stone. “The re-ality is we’re closing the door to students.”

It is a similar story at Cal-WORKS.

“I have had to lay off two hourly staff,” said Cal-WORKS coordinator Dona DeRusso. “The bigger im-pact is the impact it’s going to have for student childcare and work-study.”

Students in the program must maintain a job with the program. But now, some are forced to volunteer with the county to maintain employ-ment status so they can con-tinue to receive aid.

“I have a stack of probably 30 students who are waiting for work study placement,” DeRusso said, “and I don’t have the funds at this point to support that.”

previous semesters. “I’d hold my breath when I walked through,” he said.

Last fall, a group of speech students addressed such concerns to the Associated Students of DVC in hopes of persuading the council to support a no-smoking policy on campus.

After deliberating the is-sue, then-ASDVC President Bundit Kertbundit took the proposition to the Leadership Council of managers, staff, faculty and students, which approved it in January. The policy also applies to the San Ramon Valley Center.

Previously, smoking was permitted in the main quad and parking lots. The new policy restricts smoking to the parking lots only.

Los Medanos and Con-tra Costa colleges have had similar policies in place for approximately three years.

The switch stems from Assembly Bill 846, effec-tive January 2004, which ex-tended no-smoking areas to

include 20 feet within an exit or entryway and any oper-able windows. The bill also gave California Community Colleges power to implement additional restrictions.

Aside from health, Oye says the new policy is ben-eficial in other ways, because “we have a duty as a college to help people think about ethics.”

The policy, he said, “pre-pares students for the real world that they will be get-ting into,” since more em-ployers are leery of hiring smokers, fearing they will develop bronchitis and have to go on sick leave.

But Terry Armstrong, dean of counseling and student services, said it does not go far enough.

“If it were up to me … we wouldn’t even have the park-ing lots,” he said, although admitting such an option is unrealistic.

“I don’t want to eliminate access to the college for people stuck with that addic-tion,” Armstrong said.

The policy has earned mixed reviews among stu-

dents.International relations ma-

jor Geovanni Hernandez, 21, said the new policy isn’t working.

“People are still smoking in the quad,” he said.

Mustafa Tarzi, 21, a bio-technology major, didn’t hes-itate to voice his objections.

“It sucks,” he said. “I’m not going to walk to the damn parking lot.”

Lex Williams, 22, said he does not think it is fair for “a board of 30 people who have transferred already” to make a decision for the entire stu-dent population.

But others praised the change.

“The quad smells so much better,” said biology ma-jor Alexandrea Deroque, 18. “Last year it was nasty.”

Student Chris McDonald said he is happy about the change, although it’s “kind of high school.”

Still, McDonald recalled what it was like navigating the quad in previous semes-ters. “I’d hold my breath when I walked through,” he said.

currently offered, a per-manent schedule will not be finalized until later this month. Newly trained English-140 students will pick up these additional hours, with each tutor as-signed up to two tutees per week.

In addition to 13 return-ing tutors, as many as 21 new tutors may be added to the program from the class, said desk staff and DVC alumnus Maggie Karr.

Each tutee is allowed two hours of tutoring ev-ery week. During the first weeks of the semester, the few drop-in hours available were in high demand.

“Sessions are filling up within a couple hours of printing the schedule,” said Karr.

Though Karr estimated about 40 hours would be added to make up the per-manent schedule, she ac-knowledged it will not be enough.

“We won’t be able to pro-vide for all of them,” she said of the mostly remedi-al English and English as a Second Language stu-dents who use the lab.

ESL students like Minoo

Saghafi, 61, are already feeling the effects. There is a “big difference” be-tween the past two years and this semester, she said.

It is especially frustrating having to wait until 3 p.m. to make a drop-in appoint-ment, Saghafi added.

Unable to get a drop-in appointment on a recent afternoon, Russell Hawk-ins, 21, asked the lab’s desk staff for help on the thesis statement for his English paper.

A criminal justice major, Hawkins said he is hav-ing trouble finding help at the English Lab. “This semester [there are] a lot more people,” he said.

Hawkins said getting help from an English tu-tor is imperative. “It’s how I got through the tough times with writing,” he said of last semester.

In fact, many students turn to the English Tutor-ing Lab for help with sub-jects other than English. In the spring of 2008, stu-dents from 236 courses received tutoring involving their writing and reading skills, Lee said.

To offset the demand, the lab is telling instructors to encourage students to come in for group tutoring

sessions. Last semester, the lab

was forced to close its doors almost three weeks early due to budget short-falls, leaving both students and tutors frustrated.

Tutors received notices telling them the English Lab had to close unex-pectedly, although Eng-lish-140 trainees retained their hours.

“It was a huge surprise,” said Anita King, 24, in a recent interview. Though she will be tutoring eight hours per week this se-mester, King said her $9.31per-hour salary is highly important.

“I’m now the only per-son in my family working”, she said. “My family is de-pending on me to pay the rent.”

Until a decision is made about how each program’s budget will be affected, Lee said she is “cautious and a little hopeful.”

Although she is frus-trated with her inability to help everyone who needs it, Lee said she realizes that many other programs have been or will be hit harder.

“We’re trying,” she said, “to do our best with the state of the state.”

judge. Danish Farooq’s trial re-

sulted in a hung jury and al-though he was never retried, a judge will decide Sept. 28 whether to grant his lawyers motion for a declaration of factual innocence. Such a ruling would seal Farooq’s arrest record.

In all, 54 former DVC students were charged in the case. Of those, 40 took plea agreements or were found guilty in jury trials, eight had their cases dismissed and

one was found not guilty, Katague said.

Five more students for whom bench warrants were issued have never been found.

“We don’t know where those people are,” Katague said.

The sale of hundreds of grades by student workers in the admissions office was ongoing from 2000 to 2006 and kept secret for more than a year.

“This was certainly a unique case, I don’t think we’ll see anything like it again,” Katague said. .. .

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