Amy Chu Hannah Davey Staff writers The district stands to face cuts to both staff and classes, accord- ing to a Town Hall meeting held by the Moorpark College admin- istration on Feb. 17. The district must downsize faculty and make a more concise schedule of classes following the latest budget review. However, administrators say their primary concern is keeping students first. “We’re going to do the best we can to meet the needs for the greatest number of students and their educational paths,” said Ed Knudson, executive vice presi- dent of Moorpark College. “We’re cutting out of necessity.” During the meeting, Knud- son, President Pam Eddinger and Faculty Senate President Jeff Baker laid out the hard realities of the coming years to a packed au- dience made up of Moorpark fac- ulty and staff. In a review of their three-to-five-year plan, the ad- ministration discussed a shrink- ing budget, threats to enrollment status and compromises in sched- uling to prepare students for fu- ture challenges. For each student taking a full time load of 12 units, the district receives $4,500 from the state. The Ventura County Com- munity College District’s pro- jected general fund for this year, ending June 30, is $138.71 million. It is projected to decrease by 3 per- cent to $134.76 million for the next fiscal year. Moorpark College’s general fund this year is $49.5 million. It is projected to decrease by 5 per- cent to $47.1 million for the next fiscal year, leaving a shortfall of $2.4 million. Although the state govern- ment estimates to be out of the deficit in a year, Iris Ingram, vice president of business services, believes that it will take at least a couple years for the colleges to get back on their feet. Moorpark is prepared to help its community as best as it can. In addition to layoffs, 70 class sections will be cut out of each of the fall 2010 and spring 2011 ses- sions. Whereas 117 sections were available last summer in the four- week summer session, all of the four-week classes have been cut for the 2010 summer semester, in addition to some six-week sec- tions. All told, there will be only 350 total sections this summer. Besides these cuts, each class section must be at least 80 percent full at enrollment. Otherwise, those classes that do not meet the minimum capacity requirement will be cut from the schedule completely. Moorpark plans to continue with its proposal to cut classes over the summer, continuing into 2011. However, there is a backup plan in place to open more classes should the need arise. Known as restricted enroll- ment, a class is given a CRN num- ber and a classroom, but a student won’t see it when registering for classes. When there is a need for more courses, the restricted class will open. “It’s a planning tool that lets us stay within budget, but lets us respond quickly if we have the need,” said Knudson. “It’s a tool that I have used in enrollment planning for some time.” Knudson encourages stu- dents to enroll as soon as possible in order to ensure that they get the classes they need. “Don’t put off the classes you don’t enjoy,” said Knudson. Both Knudson and Eddinger emphasized the need for students to enroll in necessary classes as soon as possible, but also to help the college accommodate its cur- rent and future students as well. “We have to acknowledge the pain and support one another as best we can,” said Eddinger. “This campus has always been very good at that.” Hannah Davey Editor The Oxnard College Cam- pus Police are in the first phase of installing their new camera system, offering a bird’s-eye view of the campus. As of Feb. 22, there are 10 cameras working, according to Chief of Police Richard DeLaO. At the end of installation, Ox- nard College will have 99 cam- eras set up around campus. “Is this Big Brother coming in and monitoring what is go- ing on? It’s not like that,” said DeLaO. “Unfortunately, we’re beginning to see crimes across the nation on campuses.” According to Lt. Greg Beck- ley of the Oxnard College Cam- pus Police, these are the first ex- ternal cameras at Oxnard College and provide 800 percent more coverage without increasing the number of police. “We can see the trouble be- fore it gets here and identify it after it leaves,” said Beckley. The cameras are Point Tilt Zoom cameras that record events in real time while letting campus police rewind the tapes to pin- point specific events. They also allow campus police to identify people and license plate num- bers and take still photos for evi- dence. “It’s very high-tech,” said Beckley. “I’m very impressed.” There is talk from students, however, that the cameras are too “1984.” “I think it’s safe in some way, but it’s kind of creepy,” said Jacqueline Vasquez, a 19-year- old child development major. “I don’t want people looking at me.” Others, like Angel Garcia, 24, are supportive of the change. “These days cameras are pretty much everywhere,” said the psychology major. “It’s the norm, but I guess it’s safe.” The approval for the cameras came in a bulk security proposal from the VCCCD Board of Trust- ees in January 2008, right after the Virginia Tech incident. “The function has come to one thing and one thing only: to provide the police department an extra set of eyes,” said DeLaO. $1.8 million was approved for the security project that in- cludes district-wide emergency preparedness, a notification sys- tem and extra training for each campus police force, among other projects. $70,000 was approved for se- curity cameras at the three cam- puses. Along with Oxnard Col- lege’s 99 cameras, Moorpark will acquire 114 cameras and Ventura will have 129. Originally scheduled to be installed last December, DeLaO hopes to have all the cameras in- stalled by mid-year. “I think you can’t go any- where anymore without being photographed,” said DeLaO. “It’s for your own protection.” STUDENT VOICE Feb. 24 - March 9, 2010 www.StudentVoiceOnline.com FREE Vol. 7 , No. 2 Photo illustration by Carlos Zavala EYES ON YOU– Oxnard College students sit at lunch tables outside the Student Union Center with new security cameras hanging from the ceiling. New Big Brother at VCCCD Summer classes canceled at VC Santa Paula campus Alyssa Avalos Staff writer The 2010 summer session courses have been completely cut from the Ventura College East Cam- pus in Santa Paula due to budget cuts. According to Art Sanford, East Campus coordi- nator of off-campus programs, the campus usually serves 600 to 700 students during the summer ses- sion. In addition to the summer session cuts, it is a possibility that after the lease is up in the summer of 2011, East Campus may be discontinued. “It’s kind of sad to see because we’ve done so much here,” said Administrative Assistant Sabrina Canola. During the summer, East Campus offers a vari- ety of general education and transfer courses to Santa Paula students according to Medical Assistant Front- Office Instructor Linda Davis. “We don’t lack for students,” said Davis. “It’s a lack of funding.” East Campus also offers English as a Second Lan- guage courses to Santa Paula students who speak al- ternate languages. The campus also provides GED preparation soft- ware to help students pass the high school equiva- lency exam. Without the summer courses at East Campus many students will find it hard to balance their schedules with the commute to Ventura. Ana Zavala, a 21-year-old mother of an 11-month- old baby, is among the many who will be affected by this change. Zavala is currently taking the medical assistant class offered in Santa Paula. “Being a mom is like a full time job,” said Zavala. “Coming here is much more convenient than going to Ventura.” Students are also feeling the pressure of the pos- sible 2011 closure of East Campus that will be deter- mined in the fall of 2010 depending on the budget situation. “It’s bad, bad news,” said Zavala. “I have to get what I can done before then.” Sentiments are similar in administration about the summer cut backs, especially since after 30 years of serving Santa Paula students. However, Sanford has tried to make students aware that classes will still be offered in the fall of 2010 and spring of 2011 at East Campus in Santa Paula and that the 2011 closure is not yet definite. “We haven’t given up hope,” said Sanford. Students suffering snack attacks to have new options Town Hall meeting presents a grim outlook Dustin Brewer Staff writer A change is com- ing to the colleges in the Ventura County Com- munity College District. Some students may not even notice a change has been made, let alone all the thought that went in to planning it. From Feb. 16 to March 1, all vending ma- chines in the district will be replaced with new vending machines from First Class Vending. Susan Johnson, vice chancellor of business and administrative ser- vices for VCCCD ex- plained that the decision to replace the vending machines came out of necessity. “Service level was not high, our profits were not maximized,” she said. There are a total of 25 vending machines in the district, and before the change, three different brands of vending ma- chines were used which made for different fees, products and profits for the district. According to the proposal used by the Board of Trustees, com- mission to the school from First Class Vending sales will be 35 percent as opposed to the cur- rent 16-20 percent profit. Terry Cobos, direc- tor of general services says the district is un- sure if they’ll see a price increase for products af- ter the change. “Since the three col- leges used three differ- ent vendors, it’s difficult to determine whether vending pricing will increase, decrease or re- main the same,” Cobos said. The only machines being replaced are the snack machines; all beverage machines will be the same ones being used currently. It’s unknown wheth- er the brands for sale in the new machines will be primarily the same or all new variety, but students don’t seem too worried. Garret Clark, a 19- year-old undeclared major at Moorpark Col- lege, enjoys some of the snacks but isn’t against change. “It’s more of a con- venience than a neces- sity,” said Clark. See VENDING, pg. 2 Photo by Jake Henderson READY TO GO –An old vend- ing machine is empty and ready to be replaced in March. Students learn about clubs to join at VC Story pg. 3 VCCCD Projected General Fund 2009-2010: $138.71 million 2010-2011: $134.76 million Shortfall: $3.95 million
Transcript
Amy ChuHannah DaveyStaff writers
The district stands to face cuts
to both staff and classes, accord-ing to a Town Hall meeting held by the Moorpark College admin-istration on Feb. 17.
The district must downsize faculty and make a more concise schedule of classes following the latest budget review.
However, administrators say their primary concern is keeping students first.
“We’re going to do the best we can to meet the needs for the greatest number of students and their educational paths,” said Ed Knudson, executive vice presi-dent of Moorpark College. “We’re cutting out of necessity.”
During the meeting, Knud-son, President Pam Eddinger and Faculty Senate President Jeff Baker laid out the hard realities of the coming years to a packed au-dience made up of Moorpark fac-ulty and staff. In a review of their three-to-five-year plan, the ad-ministration discussed a shrink-ing budget, threats to enrollment status and compromises in sched-uling to prepare students for fu-ture challenges.
For each student taking a full time load of 12 units, the district receives $4,500 from the state.
The Ventura County Com-munity College District’s pro-jected general fund for this year, ending June 30, is $138.71 million. It is projected to decrease by 3 per-cent to $134.76 million for the next
fiscal year.Moorpark College’s general
fund this year is $49.5 million. It is projected to decrease by 5 per-cent to $47.1 million for the next fiscal year, leaving a shortfall of $2.4 million.
Although the state govern-ment estimates to be out of the deficit in a year, Iris Ingram, vice president of business services, believes that it will take at least a couple years for the colleges to get back on their feet.
Moorpark is prepared to help its community as best as it can.
In addition to layoffs, 70 class sections will be cut out of each of the fall 2010 and spring 2011 ses-sions.
Whereas 117 sections were available last summer in the four-week summer session, all of the four-week classes have been cut for the 2010 summer semester, in addition to some six-week sec-
tions. All told, there will be only 350 total sections this summer.
Besides these cuts, each class section must be at least 80 percent full at enrollment. Otherwise, those classes that do not meet the minimum capacity requirement will be cut from the schedule completely.
Moorpark plans to continue with its proposal to cut classes over the summer, continuing into 2011. However, there is a backup plan in place to open more classes should the need arise.
Known as restricted enroll-ment, a class is given a CRN num-ber and a classroom, but a student won’t see it when registering for classes. When there is a need for more courses, the restricted class will open.
“It’s a planning tool that lets us stay within budget, but lets us respond quickly if we have the need,” said Knudson. “It’s a tool that I have used in enrollment planning for some time.”
Knudson encourages stu-dents to enroll as soon as possible in order to ensure that they get the classes they need.
“Don’t put off the classes you don’t enjoy,” said Knudson.
Both Knudson and Eddinger emphasized the need for students to enroll in necessary classes as soon as possible, but also to help the college accommodate its cur-rent and future students as well.
“We have to acknowledge the pain and support one another as best we can,” said Eddinger. “This campus has always been very good at that.”
Hannah Davey Editor
The Oxnard College Cam-pus Police are in the first phase of installing their new camera system, offering a bird’s-eye view of the campus.
As of Feb. 22, there are 10 cameras working, according to Chief of Police Richard DeLaO. At the end of installation, Ox-nard College will have 99 cam-eras set up around campus.
“Is this Big Brother coming in and monitoring what is go-ing on? It’s not like that,” said DeLaO. “Unfortunately, we’re beginning to see crimes across the nation on campuses.”
According to Lt. Greg Beck-ley of the Oxnard College Cam-pus Police, these are the first ex-ternal cameras at Oxnard College and provide 800 percent more coverage without increasing the number of police.
“We can see the trouble be-fore it gets here and identify it after it leaves,” said Beckley.
The cameras are Point Tilt Zoom cameras that record events in real time while letting campus police rewind the tapes to pin-point specific events. They also allow campus police to identify people and license plate num-bers and take still photos for evi-dence.
“It’s very high-tech,” said Beckley. “I’m very impressed.”
There is talk from students, however, that the cameras are too “1984.”
“I think it’s safe in some way, but it’s kind of creepy,” said Jacqueline Vasquez, a 19-year-old child development major. “I don’t want people looking at me.”
Others, like Angel Garcia, 24, are supportive of the change.
“These days cameras are pretty much everywhere,” said the psychology major. “It’s the norm, but I guess it’s safe.”
The approval for the cameras came in a bulk security proposal from the VCCCD Board of Trust-ees in January 2008, right after the Virginia Tech incident.
“The function has come to one thing and one thing only: to provide the police department an extra set of eyes,” said DeLaO.
$1.8 million was approved for the security project that in-cludes district-wide emergency
preparedness, a notification sys-tem and extra training for each campus police force, among other projects.
$70,000 was approved for se-curity cameras at the three cam-puses. Along with Oxnard Col-lege’s 99 cameras, Moorpark will acquire 114 cameras and Ventura
will have 129.Originally scheduled to be
installed last December, DeLaO hopes to have all the cameras in-stalled by mid-year.
“I think you can’t go any-where anymore without being photographed,” said DeLaO. “It’s for your own protection.”
STUDENT VOICE
Feb. 24 - March 9, 2010 w w w . S t u d e n t V o i c e O n l i n e . c o m FREE Vol. 7 , No. 2
Photo illustration by Carlos ZavalaEyEs on you– Oxnard College students sit at lunch tables outside the Student Union Center with new security cameras hanging from the ceiling.
New Big Brother at VCCCD
Summer classes canceled at VC Santa Paula campusAlyssa AvalosStaff writer
The 2010 summer session courses have been completely cut from the Ventura College East Cam-pus in Santa Paula due to budget cuts.
According to Art Sanford, East Campus coordi-nator of off-campus programs, the campus usually serves 600 to 700 students during the summer ses-sion.
In addition to the summer session cuts, it is a possibility that after the lease is up in the summer of 2011, East Campus may be discontinued.
“It’s kind of sad to see because we’ve done so much here,” said Administrative Assistant Sabrina Canola.
During the summer, East Campus offers a vari-ety of general education and transfer courses to Santa Paula students according to Medical Assistant Front-Office Instructor Linda Davis.
“We don’t lack for students,” said Davis. “It’s a lack of funding.”
East Campus also offers English as a Second Lan-guage courses to Santa Paula students who speak al-ternate languages.
The campus also provides GED preparation soft-ware to help students pass the high school equiva-lency exam.
Without the summer courses at East Campus many students will find it hard to balance their schedules with the commute to Ventura.
Ana Zavala, a 21-year-old mother of an 11-month-old baby, is among the many who will be affected by this change. Zavala is currently taking the medical assistant class offered in Santa Paula.
“Being a mom is like a full time job,” said Zavala. “Coming here is much more convenient than going to Ventura.”
Students are also feeling the pressure of the pos-sible 2011 closure of East Campus that will be deter-mined in the fall of 2010 depending on the budget situation.
“It’s bad, bad news,” said Zavala. “I have to get what I can done before then.”
Sentiments are similar in administration about the summer cut backs, especially since after 30 years of serving Santa Paula students. However, Sanford has tried to make students aware that classes will still be offered in the fall of 2010 and spring of 2011 at East Campus in Santa Paula and that the 2011 closure is not yet definite.
“We haven’t given up hope,” said Sanford.
Students suffering snack attacks to have new options
Town Hall meeting presents a grim outlook
Dustin Brewer Staff writer
A change is com-ing to the colleges in the Ventura County Com-munity College District.
Some students may not even notice a change has been made, let alone all the thought that went in to planning it.
From Feb. 16 to March 1, all vending ma-chines in the district will be replaced with new vending machines from First Class Vending.
Susan Johnson, vice chancellor of business and administrative ser-vices for VCCCD ex-plained that the decision to replace the vending machines came out of necessity.
“Service level was not high, our profits were not maximized,” she said.
There are a total of 25 vending machines in the district, and before the change, three different brands of vending ma-chines were used which made for different fees, products and profits for the district.
According to the proposal used by the Board of Trustees, com-mission to the school from First Class Vending sales will be 35 percent as opposed to the cur-rent 16-20 percent profit.
Terry Cobos, direc-tor of general services says the district is un-sure if they’ll see a price increase for products af-ter the change.
“Since the three col-leges used three differ-ent vendors, it’s difficult to determine whether vending pricing will increase, decrease or re-main the same,” Cobos said.
The only machines being replaced are the snack machines; all beverage machines will be the same ones being used currently.
It’s unknown wheth-er the brands for sale in the new machines will be primarily the same or all new variety, but students don’t seem too worried.
Garret Clark, a 19-year-old undeclared major at Moorpark Col-lege, enjoys some of the snacks but isn’t against change.
“It’s more of a con-venience than a neces-sity,” said Clark.
See VENDING, pg. 2
Photo by Jake HendersonREady to go –An old vend-ing machine is empty and ready to be replaced in March.
Students learn about clubs to join at VC Story pg. 3
Camarillo Campus: 761 East Daily Drive, suite 120805.437.3000
Photo by Monica ValenciaShall we dance–Members of the Oxnard College Samoan Dancing team perform a cultural dance. All proceeds raised were donated to help victims of the recent Haitian earthquake.
Monica ValenciaContributing writer
Oxnard College stu-dents raised funds for Haiti through a night of dancing, singing and martial arts with “Give Love to Haiti.”
The event at the Ox-nard College Student Center consisted of an array of genres with Sa-moan dancing, singing, magic works and rap.
“American Samoa had a tsunami once and many people came to help us in a time of need,” said Fia Liaina, a 21-year-old criminal jus-tice major. “It feels good to come together and lend a hand as a team.”
Liaina, along with Aime Auvae, Vanessa Sevi and Leilani How-ard, are part of “A Show Productions,” and their Samoan Dancing team came together to put on a vivid performance full of graceful hand move-ments and impressive footwork.
As the night contin-ued to evolve, so did the entertainment. Follow-ing a motivational rap duo was the “Shen Chu Do Martial Arts Club” with a Capoeira exhibi-tion.
“This is for an excel-lent cause and it’s ful-filling to do something positive for people that aren’t from your own community,” said Israel Vasquez, a 21-year-old music major.
On Jan. 12, Haiti was struck by a devastating 7.0 magnitude earth-quake 25 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince. According to authorities, there were over 150,000 confirmed deaths and over 1.5 million Haitians affected by the catastro-phe.
Juan Huerta, 37, re-turned to school seeking a different profession. At Oxnard College, he was inspired to organize the “Give Love To Haiti” collaboration.
TV/Film Produc-
tion major Juan Huerta praised the filming of the experience for Oxnard College TV.
“As a full-time stu-dent, it was difficult to mold, but in the end it all came together,” Huerta said. “Oxnard College has given me so many opportunities and now it feels heart-warming to give back as a student, especially to a country in crisis.”
The small crowd that attended the charitable function was pleased with the night’s perfor-mances.
“I am glad there are students willing to be selfless in such a time,” said Oscar Machuca, a 26-year-old anthropol-ogy major. “Countries around the world suffer greatly from natural di-sasters and every bit of help is needed.”
All funds and pro-ceeds raised for the vic-tims of Haiti were donat-ed to the American Red Cross.
Oxnard cultural festival benefits Haitian relief
Robert PondStaff writer
Oxnard College students will be able to see Muhammad Yunus, author of the book “A World Without Poverty,” for free. The book was featured as the “One Book-One Campus” book last semester.
Yunus will be speak-ing at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Friday, Feb. 26.
Tickets, which are regularly $20, are free to Oxnard College students who sign up with Dr. Karen Engelsen, dean of
student services.“He [Yunus] repre-
sents an idea that we can create a world without poverty,” said Engelsen.
Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank, which specializes in micro fi-nancing, a process where a bank will loan small increments of money to people in third world countries.
Engelsen believes students can learn from Yunus, as she believes students can change the future.
“Students can be part of [this] ideal, not just faculty or commu-
nity members, but stu-dents,” Engelsen said. “Students are the leaders of tomorrow.”
There are a limited amount of tickets avail-able on a first come first serve basis.
For more informa-tion, call Karen Engelsen at 986-5937 or [email protected].
Aaron SimonStaff writer
Six hundred to 800 high school juniors and seniors from the Oxnard Unified School District are expected to attend the annual 2010 Youth Confer-ence on April 23 at Oxnard College.
Workshops are scheduled through-out the day, covering 27 different disci-plines.
With so many categories available to the high school students, each of the workshops is geared to introduce students for fields they might be inter-ested in, but may not know very much about.
Each workshop will feature a pro-fessional from the respective field, a faculty member and a student cur-rently enrolled in courses related to the workshop.
Dr. Cynthia Herrera, co-chair of the 2010 conference, thinks the wide range of input sets the event apart.
“The uniqueness of the program is
that you see the industrial leader, fac-ulty leader and student for a holistic view,” said Herrera.
The conference will also host mo-tivational speaker Richard Santana the original “homeboy” that went to Har-vard.
Santana will share his experiences as a third generation gang member that went to earn his Master’s degree at Harvard University.
Because of the large turnout ex-pected, the event organizers are look-ing for student volunteers.
“This is an excellent opportunity for current students to share their experience with potential future stu-dents,” said Karen Engelsen, dean of student services.
“It’s a great way to give back to their campus.”
Those interested in volunteering to help with the conference in any ca-pacity may visit the event web site at www.oxnardcollege.edu/ocyc2010 or call (805) 986-5881.
Volunteers needed for Oxnard College Youth Conference
Students look to recieve Nobel advice at lecture
Continued from pg. 1“I won’t be too up-
set if they change prod-ucts.”
Sam Butera, a 19-year-old, undeclared major at Moorpark Col-lege, admits she doesn’t normally use the ma-chines, but can see how other students would feel should prices raise.
“It would definitely be a bummer if they raised the prices,” she said. “I don’t usually use them but it would be a bummer for students who do.”
As the vending machines are being in-stalled, only time will tell if going with First Class Vending was a sweet deal.
VENDING: Students hungry for new options
Photo courtesy of Shelley SavranYe olde drama–Mike Peebler and Willow Geer praise the bard.
Lecture series looks to find much ado about somethingRobert PondStaff writer
Willow Geer and Mike Peebler, actress and actor of the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, will be the next guests featured at the Oxnard College Literature, Arts and Lecture series on March 3.
Geer and Peebler will be talking about life dur-ing Shakespearean times, complete with song and dance from the Elizabe-than Era. Peebler and Geer will also be acting out a scene from “As You Like It,” as well as div-ing into Shakespeare’s rhymes and rhetoric.
Geer’s grandfather, Will Geer began Theat-ricum Botanicum in the early 1950s for blacklist-ed actors and actresses, after Joeseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Ac-tivities Committee black-listed the elder Geer.
According to its web-site Botanicum’s mission is, “To elevate, educate, and entertain audiences of all ages by present-ing thought-provoking classics, socially relevant plays and education pro-grams in a beautiful, nat-ural outdoor sanctuary for the arts.”
Lecture series orga-
nizer Professor Shelley Savren is looking for-ward to the event.
“I hope that students will acquire a taste and appreciation for Shake-speare and will want to read more of his plays,” Savren said. “I’m hoping that there will be some budding actors in the crowd who might be in-terested in taking classes from Theatricum Botani-cum.”
Photo by Hossain T. Iftekhernobel light–Yunus, pic-tured here in Bangladesh, is a Nobel Prize winning author.
VC’s inspirational bio buffPhoto by Jake Henderson
Passion–It’s plants and animals galore in Professor Kammy Algiers’ office, displaying her fondness of all-things biology.
Students urged to apply for vacant seatsJames WilliamsStaff Writer
The chance to join the fall cabinet of the Associated Students of Ventura College (ASVC) is just an application away.
General elections will be held from April 20 through April 22, but applications to run for office must be submitted by March.
Kea Kanamu, ASVC President, is working to move back the applica-tion and election dead-lines.
“We would like to televise our candidates on our local TV station for the college called ‘Pirate Talk’ on public access in Ventura,” said Kanamu.
There are a total of eight positions to be filled for the upcoming school year: President, Vice President, Trea-surer, Secretary, Director of External Affairs, two executive positions and Senator. A peer advisor seat is also available for someone who knows the system. According to Kanamu, this posi-tion might be elected or will continue to be ap-pointed.
Joining ASVC allows students to gain leader-ship and organizational skills, said Joey Ortega, ASVC historian. Ortega has been with ASVC for two years previously serving as Vice President and helped through Peer Advising.
“Through ASVC, students can have a voice,” said Ortega, a 24-year-old business man-agement major. “Stu-
dents have the power to make change on campus through voting.”
In the past year ASVC has done a lot for the students and cam-pus, such as donating $20,000 for the six-week summer session classes, said Ortega. Student Government is an impor-tant part of the campus, according to Ortega, al-lowing students to make the necessary changes for the college.
Kanamu spends about 15 hours a week completing all the re-quirements necessary to run an efficient student government.
According to Kanamu, most of his fellow representatives spend about three to six hours a week working in meetings and during of-fice hours.
“Student Govern-ment is a wonderful ex-perience,” he said. “You get to travel, meet a lot of people and know how the system works in California to make changes.”
Many students have shown interest in join-ing ASVC, but some are concerned about balanc-ing work and school. Time management is important for students, but with a full work load and school schedule it’s hard for students to join ASVC,” said Ortega.
Kanamu encourages students to stop by the ASVC office and fill out an application.
“It’s important to be involved in the college,” said Kanamu. “I feel like I am giving back to the college after they have given me so much. It’s the least we can do.”
For more informa-tion and application deadlines contact the ASVC office at (805) 654-6449.
Brett ArveStaff Writer
Described by her students as fun and vivacious, Professor Ka-melia “Kammy” Algiers has made her mark at Ventura College.
For four years, Algiers has helped progress the Department of Biological Sciences, teaching Field Biology and Principles of Bi-ology labs and lectures, as well as running the Biology Club.
Algiers has seven years of in-struction under her belt, teaching at such institutions as CSU North-ridge and other community col-leges, but Algiers has not always been a big fan of biology.
Going into her first year of college Algiers claimed to have an undeclared major. She decided to get her Bachelor’s Degree in biol-ogy and began growing fond of areas such as ecology and evolu-tion.
As the years went on, her in-terest expanded to the plants and animals aspect. She even had the opportunity to take a tropical biol-ogy course in Costa Rica for one semester. It was during her time in Costa Rica that she grew passion-
ate about the field.While going for her Master’s
Degree at CSU Northridge, Al-giers was given the chance to run a couple of lab courses. This op-portunity stirred her interest in teaching, and she realized that teaching became something she actually enjoyed.
“Teaching wasn’t something I planned on doing,” she said. “Work just kind of picked up more and more and it was easy and fun.”
As fun as it is, the thing Al-giers loves most about teaching is being an inspiration to others. She encourages students to take more biology classes and hopes to in-spire them to do more in the field.
“Because there is so much you can do,” Algiers explained, “and a lot of people come into my class and they have no idea how broad biology is.”
Algiers wants nothing but the best for her students. She says her proudest moments are when for-mer students get into good schools and come back to share their ex-citement.
Danielle Torres, a 21-year-old anthropology major, is among
Algier’s many former students.“The thing I loved about her
class was that she was really pas-sionate about what she was teach-ing, and it showed,” she said.
Algier’s passion has also led to the founding of Ventura College’s first Biology Club. The campus organization began about two-and-a-half years ago, when a group of students from her Field Biology class showed interest in doing things outside of class.
Since then, the club has done plenty of volunteer work around the community, taking part in a number of activities with elemen-tary and high school students in-cluding planting, pulling weeds, clearing out ice plant on local is-lands and bringing awareness to other students.
“I think the club’s outreach is the biggest benefit,” Algiers said.
Algiers would consider these field activities to be hobbies of hers as well. In addition to all-things biology, she also enjoys travelling. Algiers has been to places such as Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Belize and Brazil, but she hopes to travel through all of Latin Ameri-ca some day.
Music and goodies treat VC Pirates to enjoyable Club Rush Angela BrazaVentura campus editor
Chocolate-covered strawberries and bags of buttery popcorn lured Ventura students to the campus quad during the spring semester’s Club Rush festivities.
Waves of students congregated in the quad on Feb. 16-17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. as over a dozen clubs attempted to recruit new members. The scent of fresh-baked cookies filled the air, as did the sounds of volunteer student DJs who kept spirits alive with an ar-ray of upbeat songs.
Susan Medina, Inter-Club Council president of the Associated Students of Ventura College (ASVC), was pleased with the turnout.
“We’ve always had good partici-pation at club rush,” she said. “The music brings people out, and students get excited by the variety of clubs we have to offer.”
Among the 12-15 clubs that par-ticipated in Club Rush were Ventura College Cheer, International Business Honor Society, New Age Club, Suc-cess Through Diversity, Gay-Straight Alliance and M.E.Ch.A.
According to Medina, being in-volved with school organizations can boost student morale and help build a better campus atmosphere.
“It’s very important to socialize and be involved with school,” she said. “It’s exciting when the community can come together and work on projects that benefit everyone.”
Esteban Minero, a 19-year-old po-litical science major and president of the Anthropology Club, notes a differ-ent incentive for students to join cam-pus clubs.
“There’s the whole aspect of build-ing up transcripts and resumes,” he said. “Being active and participating looks good on your resume.”
For Rianna Gajardo, a 20-year-old nursing major and club representative for Alpha Gamma Sigma (AGS), taking part in a school organization not only benefits the students who join, but also the community that they serve.
“Our club in particular is a com-munity service-based club,” she said, “Our main goal is to give back. It’s im-portant to participate in extracurricular activities. We may attend a junior col-lege but making a difference anywhere is rewarding.”
Photo by Jake HendersonBringin’ the noise–Sociology majors Ramon Hernandez, 22, left, and Jimmy Tran, 22, entertain Club Rush attendees with a mixture of Hip hop and R&B songs.
Photo by Jake Hendersonrecruiting–Alpha Gamma Sigma representative Rianna Gajardo, 20, right, interests 20-year-old nursing major Carollyn Cavinta in joining the club. Alpha Gamma Sigma is an organization that aims to enrich the community.
If a new proposal is approved, smoking could soon be banned from the campus and its environs altogether.
Smokers may once again have to look for alternative areas to puff their cigarettes.
“One thing I think most smok-ers realize is that numbers of plac-es where it’s okay to smoke have diminished,” said David Wein-stein, co-chair of the Wellness Committee and math professor at Moorpark College.
“It becomes more and more
their responsibility to find accept-able places to smoke.”
The Wellness Committee has proposed a campus-wide ban on smoking that, for the first time, in-cludes even the parking lots.
The new move was prompted by complaints of second-hand smoke reaching members of the college while walking to get to campus according to Weinstein.
Although members of the committee have considered rami-fications of the proposal, such as students being left with little op-tions when it comes to finding a place to smoke, they decided that the benefits ultimately outweighed
the disadvantages.“I have a lot of students
who are trying to quit,” said Sharon Manakas, co-ordinator of student health services.
“They appreciate that [smoking] is not on the in-side [of campus] because it helps them towards their goal.”
Manakas also cited a recent resolution adopted by the Student Senate for California Community Col-leges in spring 2009, which not only showed student awareness of the smoking issue but also support for working against it.
The resolution states goals of communicating the dangers of tobacco smoke to local student gov-ernments and encouraging
campuses to adopt smoke-free policies, among other things.
For now, the proposed smok-ing ban is in a discovery mode, according to Weinstein, which means that the Wellness Commit-tee is currently informing a num-ber of student groups and faculty on campus about the proposal and looking for feedback before taking any action.
But some already have their doubts.
“We’re really just concerned,” said Samer Naji, a 20-year-old political science major and Direc-tor of External Affairs for the As-sociated Students. “Students that need to smoke are going to smoke anyway.”
Naji and the rest of the As-sociated Students are working on an alternative proposal to pres-ent to the Wellness Committee that would still allow students to smoke in certain designated areas, but perhaps just make those areas smaller, in an effort to accommo-date all parties involved.
Although the campus groups must pass judgment on the pro-posal before the committee can take the next step, Weinstein keeps in mind that they only have one real goal for the campus.
“I think there are many con-cerns [when it comes to smoking],” said Weinstein. “But certainly the primary concern of the Wellness-Committee is wellness, whether it’s the wellness of students who decide to smoke or those who choose not to.”
Ban on smoking would clear the air
Amy ChuMoorpark campus editor
Moorpark College received a new addition to its campus recently, and it’s already seen some unusu-ally stormy times.
Michael Walegur, geography and geographic in-formation systems professor at Moorpark College, installed a weather station at the Charles Temple Observatory on campus last month in the hopes that it would enhance the classroom experience and pro-vide vital information during dire situations. And his department is happy too.
“[We are] most excited about the potential that our new weather stations provide for our campus community,” said Omar Torres, department chair of the chemistry and earth sciences department. “Stu-dents...will have the opportunity to experience the kinesthetic application of hands-on weather data acquisition and management which should enhance their overall learning experience.”
Walegur began campaigning for the necessary equipment about a year ago and was rewarded on Jan. 26, when the live web link to the station was set up.
The weather station, made by Davis Instru-ments, provides real-time data to a web link through a wireless signal that transmits to a receiver located in Walegur’s office.
Aside from the typical measurements expected of weather stations, Moorpark’s device is also able to report sunrise, sunset and moon phases while compensating for daylight savings time. The solar-powered device uses a lithium battery as a backup and creates on-screen graphing of the conditions di-rectly connected to the website.
A second remote station is currently in develop-ment, but Walegur hopes that students in courses like geography, environmental science and meteo-rology will be able to utilize the new addition to its full potential.
Current weather conditions can be found at www.moorparkcollege.edu/weather.
Weather reports will be close to home on campus
Brennan WhitmoreStaff writer
Club Day can be a chance for students to see what they can do on campus other than worry over tests and quizzes.
It can also bring more of a “communal” emphasis to a commu-nity college.
“Club Day can en-able the feeling of com-munity, students can learn about other stu-dents interests and re-ally feel like Moorpark College is a home and have people they know around them,” said Mackenzie Fuller, As-sociated Students direc-tor of student organiza-tions.
Clubs set up booths along Raider Walk to try and attract new mem-
bers on Monday.One such club was
Moorpark Muggle Quid-ditch, where students play a version of the fictional game from the “Harry Potter” book se-ries.
Replacing flying brooms with the regu-lar variety and tossing around deflated volley-balls, Vice President Ari-anna De La Mora says that the game is more about having fun than competition.
Club Day gives these clubs a chance to try and get other students into the game.
“There are a lot of people who prob-ably enjoy Harry Pot-ter Quidditch and don’t know that there’s a club like this and would probably like to join,”
said De La Mora.Other clubs on
hand included the Gay Straight Alliance, which aims to promote rela-tions between gay and straight communities, as well as the Knit Wits, a club that gives students the chance to learn how to knit as well as social-ize with others.
Currently the club is knitting squares for baby blankets, which Knit Wit Vice President Brynn Cook says will be then donated to the Commu-nity Pregnancy Center.
“It’s great, you get to help others while enjoy-ing yourself,” said Cook.
For more informa-tion on campus clubs, visit www.moorparkcol-lege.edu/services_for_students/associated_students.
Photo by Hannah DaveyExpElliarmus–Cambria Wells, left, and Arianna De La Mora, vice president of Moorpark Muggle Quidditch disarm passersby with their Beater physiques while Chaser Bryan Bujanda tries to grab the attention of his fellow muggles at Moorpark College’s Club Day on Feb. 22.
Graphic by Hannah DaveyAs this year’s theme, Year of Service events will continue through the end of the year.
Club Day promotes community
Photo by Jake Hendersonsit back and rElax–If the smoking ban passes, students like Lauren Bovard won’t be able to smoke near the parking lots between class anymore.
Hannah CoyleOpinion editor
A cookbook will be coming to Moorpark College from the Classified Senate, featuring recipes from their members as well as other contributors to be of-fered to everyone on campus.
The Classified Senate is going to use the proceeds of the cookbook for scholarships for higher educa-tion for its staff and, eventually, for students as well.
“It’s a way to get our campus community in-volved again,” said the Kim Watters, president of the Classified Senate. “We’re just out of touch with each other, so it’s just a way for us to have a little more camaraderie.”
According to its website, some of the Classified Senate’s objectives are to address the non-bargain-ing concerns of the classified employees and to work with college management to promote campus com-munity involvement, personal development and col-legiality.
Students can participate by submitting a recipe of their own.
There are many different categories to choose from, including special categories for diabetics and vegetarians.
“If students want to participate, that’s great,” said Watters. “They can submit their recipe and then get it published.”
In an effort to bring the Classified Staff together, and to make money for their scholarships, the mem-
bers of the senate will be putting together this cook-book filled with recipes ranging from main dishes, to desserts, to drinks.
“This is a campus cookbook, therefore we would like to include all faculty, staff, students, administra-tors and managers…everyone,” said Watters in a message about the cookbook on the Classified Sen-ate website.
“That’s such a cool idea, I can’t wait for it to come out,” said Sierra Cook, a 17-year-old bio-chem-istry major at Moorpark College.
Recipes can be submitted by Feb. 26. To submit a recipe, go to: www.moorparkcol-
lege.edu/faculty_staff/classified_senate.
Photo by Amy ChuWEathEring hEights–Professor Michael Walegur adjusts the new weather station on top of the Charles Temple Observatory.
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File photoGoinG for the kill–Moorpark’s Kyle Auge jumps up for the kill in a match last season against Santa Barbara City College. Auge is a key returning player for the Raiders, along with setter Adam Quinn, outside hitter Jared Furlong and libero Brendan Keane.
Raiders set to bump competitionRaiders look to make deep run in postseason
Tim WeisbergSports editor
Coach Steve Burkhart is similar to the North Star; he always manages to guide his teams in the right direc-tion.
His players may get lost at times, but Burkhart manages to keep his players in check and guide them in the right direction.
Despite losing two
of their sic starters, the Raiders are 5-2 and look to make another push towards a Western State Conference crown.
In the long run, Burkhart feels that this defines the success of the Raiders’ season.
“Our goal is to win the WSC and make the playoffs,” he said. “The team has the same kind of goals.”
Gone from last year’s WSC championship team are 6’ 8” middle blocker Sean Martin, a dominant force on the defensive end, as well as the Raid-ers’ team captain, Chris Trauger.
However, Burkhart
has directed his team down the right path, with the help of some key re-turning players from last year’s 15-3 campaign, including setter Adam Quinn, middle blocker Kyle Auge and outside hitter Jared Furlong.
And the same goals Burkhart has are being instilled into his players.
Auge mentioned the team’s primary focus is to make the playoffs.
“The playoffs are our main goal right now,” he said. “We are trying to put ourselves in the best position possible for the playoffs.”
The Raiders’ only loss so far was a match
against Irvine Valley College that went to five sets.
The definition of a successful season starts with a playoff berth, one that extends past the first round to blur out a shocking upset at the hands of Orange Coast College in the first-round of last season’s playoffs.
Burkhart is confident that his team will be able to consistently perform at a high level.
“We feel good about what we’ve done so far,” he said.
The Raiders begin conference play when they host Santa Monica City College March 5.
VC Pirates win regular season finale
Photo by Olivia RuhlandDrivinG–Ventura’s Erika Ward (No. 11) drives to the basket while Kris King (No. 32) posts up. The Pirates are 63-2 dating back to last season and clinched their 20th consecutive WSC championship with a win at Santa Barbara on Feb. 10.
The Ventura College women’s basketball team has been a dynasty of the ages for community col-lege sports.
Saturday night’s vic-tory gave people a com-pelling reason to believe winning is all the Pirates know under Ned Mirce-tic’s prolific tenure, and that a dynasty has been created with his guid-ance.
On Sophomore Night, the Pirates out-hustled, overpowered and outplayed the Ox-nard College Condors in every facet of the game of basketball in a 78-49 victory Saturday night at the Ventura Athletic Center.
This year’s sopho-more class joined only three other sophomore classes, the ‘96, ‘97 and ‘98 classes, who had three losses or fewer.
As for Coach Mirce-tic, he is simply grateful to be participating in his true passion: coaching.
“I am one of the luck-iest guys ever to coach,” he said.
“I have been sur-rounded by great per-sonalities, great families and a great school.”
The personalities he is referring to were this year’s sophomore class, which included guards Erika Ward, Brenda Van Someren and Amanda Padilla, center Chanelle Brennan and forwards Lacey Escamilla and Kris King, have combined for an astonishing 64-2 re-cord over the past two seasons.
Brennan led the Pi-rates (29-1, 12-0 WSC) on the night with 23 points, while Padilla and King followed with 12 points to help the Pirates pound on the weaker Condors (14-11, 5-7).
Ward felt the team’s
cohesiveness over the past two seasons has contributed to the 64-2 sophomore class cam-paign.
“I think since last year we’ve had great chemistry,” Ward said.
Ward also believed the success they have had over the past two years has been some-thing to be proud of, and that tonight’s victory should help motivate the Pirates to keep playing well into the playoffs.
“I think it’s some-thing great we achieved [20th WSC champion-ship], and I just hope we can continue that success in the playoffs.”
The Pirates never trailed the Condors and used a well-executed fast-paced offense to col-lectively beat up on a helpless Condors’ team.
The Pirates never trailed and led 40-20 at halftime, never giving the Condors a chance to spark any sort of come-back.
Brennan is still in disbelief that this was the sophomores’ final home game.
“Today it didn’t seem like our last home game for sophomores,” she said. “It seemed like a regular home game for us.”
At 29-1, the Pirates are the number one team in the state, locked the number two seed in this year’s Southern Califor-nia Playoffs.
The Pirates’ only loss last season came in the State Semifinals to Pasadena City College, which ironically is the only team that has beat-en the Pirates over the past two seasons.
The Lancers seem to be the only team the Pi-rates have not been able to crack.
Win or lose come playoff time, Coach Mircetic believes his team should value the season they have had.
“Whatever happens, it won’t take away from the season,” he said. “It could only add to it.”
The Pirates will host either Cuesta College or Santa Monica City Col-lege in the So. Cal Reion-als Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.
Oxnard College basketball star plays valuable role as mentorTim WeisbergSports editor
Someone once said that experience is a hard teacher; it gives you the test first and the lesson afterwards.
However, one player has made experience an easy tool in the development of his play on the court, as well as his per-formance off the court.
O x n a r d College point guard/shoot-ing guard Ryan McLucas has transitioned from a high school standout to a true leader on the court for the Condors’ basketball team.
McLucas attributes his development and experience as a player to his head coach, Jason Cunningham.
“He’s helped me a lot coming out of high school,” he said. “He’s helped me develop at the college level. Our re-lationship is really good. We see eye-to-eye a lot.”
McLucas, 20, started playing basketball at three years old, when his father put up a basket-ball hoop in his home. He has been playing the game ever since.
“It’s always some-thing I really liked do-ing,” he said.
In fact, McLucas be-lieves his father and old-er brother, Glenn, have helped shape and mold him into the type of per-son he is.
“Those are the big-gest influences,” he said. “Without those two, I would not be in the position I am in today. They’ve been a big help with my life.”
Coach Cunningham contributed Ryan’s ex-perience on the court and his leadership skills as a true motivation for other players.
“For him being around the longest, he
becomes another coach and another voice in the locker room,” Cunning-ham said. “[He] shows them how to persevere through obstacles.”
McLucas’ teammate, point guard Nick Moli-na, who has played with Ryan for two seasons,
believes his high bas-ketball IQ is what he contributes most to the team.
“ T h e most im-p r e s s i v e
part is that he is not self-
ish,” Molina said. “He would rather score zero [points] and win than
score twenty and lose.”McLucas is in his
third year, and gained an extra year of eligibility this season because of an injury last season, which forced him to medical red shirt.
He wants to contin-ue playing basketball at a four-year school, and has garnered interest from Division II schools Cal Baptist and Chami-nade University in Ha-waii, as well as interest from Division I schools Sacramento State and Cal State Bakersfield.
The Camarillo na-tive says that he is un-sure as to where he will play next, but is keeping his options open.
As far as academics, McLucas is a communi-cations major, and wants to be a sports broadcast-er if he is unable to reach his ultimate goal of play-
ing in the NBA.Basketball will re-
main a major part of Ryan’s life, and he has no plans of stopping his true passion unless there are some drastic mea-
sures.“The day I stop play-
ing basketball is the day my legs give out on me,” he said.
Ryan McLucas
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTPage 6 Student Voice • www.StudentVoiceOnline.com Feb.24, 2010
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Student One Acts return to Ventura Angela BrazaVentura campus editor
Theater students will have the opportu-nity to wow crowds with their acting and direct-ing skills at this spring’s upcoming One Act Play Festival.
The One Act Play Festival is one of four major productions put on by the Ventura Col-lege Theater Arts Depart-ment every year. The fes-tival includes four short plays acted and directed by students and will be held in Guthrie Hall for a few select days in March, according to Theater Arts Department Chair Judy Garey.
Among the plays that will take place at the One Acts this semester is Carol S. Lashof’s “Me-dusa’s Tale,” directed by Michael F. Byrne, which puts a tragic twist on an old tale.
“I have directed three shows at VC, this being my third, and each time is different. I have loved every second of it,” said Byrne. “The way students work with each other and feed off each other is really great to do because I believe the One Acts are what college theatre is all about rather
than main stage shows, because you learn so much.”
The One Acts will also feature a play en-titled “Am I Blue,” written by Beth Henley and directed by Jordan Shockley, which tells the story of two lonely teens who unfold an unexpect-ed friendship on a cold, rainy night.
“The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World,” written by Jona-than Rand and directed by James Fraker, is a co-medic take on the info-mercial world.
“Ode to Gwen Sta-cy,” written and directed by Joshua Shain, tells the story of a young man who must choose be-tween a woman living in his reality and a woman that matches his image of perfection.
A free preview will be open to the public on Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. The show runs March 5-7 and 12-13 at 8 p.m. The final showing will be a matinee perfor-mance on March 14 at 3 p.m.
Tickets for the One Acts will be on sale at the door, with a $5 fee for students, staff and se-niors and $7 for the gen-eral public.
Photo By J. Carlos Zavala Medusa’s Tale–Arianna White,19, brushes the hair of Re-becca Lawson, 22, in VC’s original interpretation on the myth
Drug smuggling in MC’s new filmPhoto by Kenny Redublo
ReheaRsing–Actors run lines for ‘Elena,’ Moorpark’s new film following the predjudices surrounding immigration and drug trade
Hannah DaveyEditor
It’s chilly outside, with a brisk wind sting-ing the cheeks of the dig-ital film students. They are scouring over a script in the amphithe-ater in the Performing Arts parking lot, some huddled together on the steps, others running lines with violent hand gestures, spitting words back and forth.
It’s 1 p.m. in the af-ternoon on Feb. 11 and it’s the first rehearsal for the film department’s next big movie. Direc-tor Stephen Mallet, 21, a film, television and me-dia major, presides over the rehearsal. To give the actors and crew the feel-ing of what shooting is going to feel like, a more authentic experience, Mallet has his team out-side.
“I want to rehearse outdoors every single
day,” said Mallet. “They need to be outside, be in the sun and get dirty. They need to beat each other up.”
Mallet and his crew are working on the third student produced film to come from Moorpark College. The film, ten-tatively titled “Elena,” explores the prejudices on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border concern-ing immigration and the drug trade.
The film will be ac-tion-adventure focusing on two girls escaping from Mexico due to their father’s involvement in the government action against the drug cartels. On their journey, they meet three American drug smugglers involved in the trade.
While the film does explore some turbulent issues, the script repre-sents both sides of the situations.
“What we’re trying
to portray is that there is at least two sides to the issue,” said Head Writer Scott Landsman. “That America is slamming the front door on immi-gration, but opening the back door for them to build our houses and to take those jobs at lesser pay scales. There are [also] a lot of people now caught in the drug war. They’re either with the drug cartels or against them.”
The film students stress that the film is to depict both sides.
“We’re trying to make a film that’s not preachy. We’re trying to be balanced,” said An-drew Wolf, who plays one of the American drug smugglers. “We’re trying not to force our position.”
“Elena” will be the third film the Digital Filmmaking class has undertaken with the as-sistance of Ferenc Gutai,
the executive producer of the films and the in-structor for the class.
“Trauma,” the mov-ie from the Spring 2008 semester featured a woman and her husband trying to recover from her sexual assault while last spring’s film, “The Room,” was a horror film portraying a Step-ford-like family and the lengths they went to stay perfect.
The digital filmmak-ing students will be film-ing “Elena” on location off of Pearblossom High-way and in Apple Valley starting March 15. While the content is quite heavy and challenging to fit into 25 pages according to Landsman, Mallet is optimistic that the prod-uct will deliver.
“I love telling a good story, a good compelling story,” said Mallet. “We want people to leave this feeling compelled, feel-ing moved.”
Smoking privileges disappearing in a puff Smokers at Moorpark College face
an uncertain future. While the status quo as it exists today may seem sus-tainable, the reality is a world where smoking is quickly becoming out-lawed.
Following the 2007 anti-smoking ordinance passed by the Moorpark City Council, which prohibited smok-ing within 20 feet of any public en-trance/exit or open window, the wave of vitriol towards smokers has steadily increased. Smoking allowed only in parking lots, as is the current situa-tion at both Moorpark and Oxnard colleges, is on borrowed time. Word has been circulating on campus about a potential smoking ban. The process of instituting any sort of modified smoking policy will be a long one and students shouldn’t expect to come to school next semester and find Moor-park College a non-smoking campus. Even so, the future is clear and it’s only a matter of time before a potential ban becomes a reality.
According to Sharon L. Manakas, Moorpark College health services co-ordinator, several complaints have been received about smoking near the ACCESS and child development buildings. The problem with designat-ing all parking lots as smoking areas
is that anyone entering or exiting the campus now has a reasonable chance of having to walk through a haze of cigarette smoke, regardless of where they are trying to go. Rather than have designated smoking areas away from heavily trafficked walkways, the pow-ers that be chose to designate all park-ing areas as smoking acceptable. This leads to smokers darting in and out of traffic, a danger to everyone regard-less of preference.
The reality is that once Moorpark College becomes a non-smoking cam-pus, an inevitability no matter how preliminary the process may be, Ox-nard College and Ventura College will not be far behind. Smokers throughout the district must face the possibility of having their cars be the only smok-ing areas left on campus. Smoking is more than a hobby, it’s an addiction. For many young people, new to the experience of college and growing independence, it represents an eas-ily-fulfilled form of rebellion against authority. Young smokers may feel the forces behind any potential ban are incapable of understanding their posi-tions, but that is not the case.
“I understand the addiction pro-cess,” said Manakas. “But on the other hand, I’ve had a lot of students who try to quit.”
In a world where the opportunity
to smoke freely may become a rare gift, smokers in the Ventura County Com-munity College district have more op-portunities for change than most. The Ventura College student health center offers one-on-one counseling, litera-
ture and nicotine replacement products to help students who want to quit. The Moorpark College health center offers similar resources. More information about these programs may be found on the respective colleges websites.
Brennan WhitmoreStaff writer
Social networking. The more of it you do, the less real socializing you get done.
Recently two ma-jor developments have happened in the world of Twitter-Facing, with Facebook yet again re-designing their main site and Google almost si-multaneously launching Buzz.
Facebook, much like every website that wants to keep a steady traffic count, updates their site design every now and then.
What I find interest-ing is that every time they do it you hear us-ers complain about how they “ruined” it, and they usually keep using Facebook anyway until the next update.
And then they com-plain again. Websites constantly tweaking the layout of their pages is a good thing. It’s how they evolve to become more streamlined and display their content more el-egantly. So just keep that
in mind the next time you make your status “lol Facebook sux now!” after it takes you five sec-onds longer then usual to find the Farmville tab.
More interesting is Buzz, which Google launched to try and fur-ther their goal of com-pletely controlling how we communicate on the internet. Buzz is pretty simple, you just set up a profile with a picture and then post something like a status update, and then people can com-ment on that. Buzz is nothing special really, just a slightly cleaner so-cial site for you to worry about updating.
So why am I writing a GC about it then? Sim-ple. If you’re reading this you have nerd-like prop-erties. Your body is most likely rich in Nerdium, and therefore you have a decent understanding of the internet.
This is where I show you to use those powers for evil. First thing you do is Buzz something like “Who likes ice cream?” People you follow, still not fully understand-ing this new service, re-spond with comments like “I love it!” or “Can’t get enough of it!”
You then go to your original post and hit the edit button, replacing “ice cream” with “rape.”
I have given you this gift. Now go use it.
Geek CultureWhat do you think about completely banning smoking on all campuses?
Ventura
Samantha Mizutani, 20, Fashion
Ventura Ashley Aguilar, 19
Psychology
Oxnard
Kati Clark, 18Culinary Arts
Oxnard David Du, 20Biotechnology
MOOrpark
Chris Homan, 24Graphic Design
MOOrpark
Aubrey Smith, 19Undecided
“I feel it’s a violation of rights. I understand why they would, but we should have a place to smoke.”
“It don’t feel it’s an incon-venience that they smoke in the park lots.”
“I don’t smoke, but some do and this would discour-age future enrollment.”
“They shouldn’t ban it. They should limit it to a designated place.”
“I prohibit smoking from my life, so if it enforced at campus it’d be nice.”
“The school would be a lot better with the ban.”
Kenny RedubloStaff writer
Social networking, video games, the world is full of fantastic time wasters, but abuse of these time-wasters is a
major problem.I don’t have good
time management skills. The need for study-ing usually gets over-wrought by finishing just one more episode of a television show or one
more mission in a video game.
Many fall victim to the same habits, but a large factor in precious time being wasted is the Internet.
Vast, abundant and dangerous, the Internet has many faces; all of them as intriguing as the next.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau News, Internet use in the home has tripled in a decade, from 18 percent in 1997 to 62 percent in 2007.
There is always a lust to gather more informa-
tion with each random thought that passes.
For example, social networking; as a prod-uct of the Internet, I can’t pass on a subject until I have scoured every re-source in order to gather every bit of information. The same can go for any member of a social net-working website.
According to a study from the Nielson Com-pany, social networking sites account for 17 per-cent of all time spent on the Internet in August 2009, tripling the per-centage of time spent
last year. With walls to be written on, status up-dates, instant messaging and other means of con-necting with others, the ease of these tools help us learn more about each other or even become absorbed in each other’s lives.
Distance is becoming less of an issue and with all these sites, face-to-face human interaction may soon become sec-ond to an Internet profile.Even though the Internet is rich with resources, it still has a limiting factor: time.
As students, we claim we can’t find time to balance studying with friends or classes with work, but through the in-tegration of technology, we can stay constantly connected to the Internet and find the time.
Though the Internet can have its good and bad aspects, it is contributing to how we are changing our ways when it comes to time management.
Finding time isn’t the concern, it’s how we use it. Time waits for no one, not even for the In-ternet.
Illustration by Kenny RedubloWaste–Time adds up when spent on the World Wide Web
Illustration by Brett ArveBanned–Soon students will have to face the inevitable; they will not be able to smoke at college.
–Editorial–>
Hayley SkeneStudent Life editor
Chapter Eight is the perfect evening getaway for college stu-dents: a slice of Hollywood or Las Vegas nestled into the local community of Agoura Hills. The dining area is adorned with an ar-ray of seating selections, from pri-vate, intimate booths, to spa-cious round-table booths which accom-modate up to parties of eight.
Sparkling in brilliant red and sleek black, the styl-ish décor may at first suggest snobbery, but the friendly service allows any guest to feel at ease.The menus lure you in before you even open them; stylish faux-alligator skin bound, they would seem ap-propriately placed in a boutique window. A separate wine list dem-onstrates a well-advised, small selection which merely brushes the surface of the vast collection maintained on sight.
Along with the typical full-
bar selection, Chapter eight offers several of their own original, excit-ing cocktail concoctions. The bar itself, located at the heart of the restaurant, draws many lingering customers on its own. It serves thirsty dancers as well on Thurs-day, Friday, and Saturday nights, when the outdoor patio and in-door dance floor becomes a Hol-
lywood-style night club, complete with bottle-service and elegant cabanas. For larger parties, a pri-vate dining room, or even the en-tire restaurant, may be rented out. Custom menus are available for such events, featuring a selection of appetizers, entrees and desserts
of the hosts’ choosing. During the daytime, and Monday through Thursday, the outdoor patio serves as a cozy outdoor eating area, complete with an elegant fire-pit, as well as ample space-heaters. All items on the menu are the prod-uct of the culinary genius of chef Michael Carreiro. The appetizers are an artistic creation; everything
from lob-ster to mini-sliders look almost too intricate to dig into. En-trees center on Ameri-can cuisine, jazzed up with an ar-ray of exotic i n f l u e n c e . Even basic w o u l d - b e junk foods, such as french fries, seem like a delicacy.
Credit must be given to the cooks as well, as the steak
was perfectly tender and cooked to perfection, precisely as ordered. The price range is moderate, but most items on the menu are af-fordable and certainly well worth every penny. A visit to Chapter Eight is an exciting getaway, right in the neighborhood.
Dustin BrewerStaff writer
Few things bring people together like music does. On March 12 at 6 p.m., several lo-cal bands will come together at Simi Valley’s 118 West to help those in need in Haiti.
On Jan. 12 of this year, Haiti was hit by a severe earth-quake and over 52 aftershocks, which left millions of people devastated and the capital of Port-au-Prince in ruins.
It quickly became a world-wide issue, with millions of people helping to donate any time or money they could to relief efforts.
After witnessing all of the events and the devasta-tion on a daily basis, Hannah Fiore, a 17-year-old student at Simi Valley Adult School and a contributing organizer of the event, decided to do some-thing.
On March 12, two months
after the first earthquake hit, seven bands from Ventura County will be performing to-gether to help the cause.
One of the acts, Non-stop July, is led by Moor-park College’s own Brandon Watts, who had no hesitation
about performing.“I love to play music, it’s
just what I do, and if I can do what I love and help people in
the process, then it’s a perfect world,” said Watts.
Tickets for the event will cost $10 and may be purchased from an artist performing, or at the door.
Once house charges are covered, the remaining pro-ceeds will go to the American Red Cross to help Haiti.
Other acts performing in-clude Cobalt Skies, Troutwine, Aces High, Rituals, Vengeance for the Fallen and If Only for a Day.
Even though the Haiti disaster occurred almost two months ago, Watts is hopeful people still see the urgency in helping Haiti.
“They still have devasta-tion and problems, this is just the local youth coming to-gether to do something that’s bigger than ourselves,” said Watts.
For more information on the show or the venue, visit www.myspace.com/118_west
Local bands to rock out for refugees Bands will come together to put on a non-profit rock concert in Simi Valley to raise money for Haiti relief
Benji GuerreroOxnard campus editor
We hear about fash-ion “Do’s” and “Don’ts” all the time, and we all have our own personal tastes that factor into what we think looks right.
However, often people don’t realize that what they choose to wear often turns into a fashion “Don’t.”
I am going to fo-cus on three “Don’ts” which will help you edit your outfits into fashion “Do’s.”
The “California Uni-form” is the combina-tion of UGG boots or any form of slouchy boot worn with short shorts or skirts. I used to hear that only people in Califor-nia could get away with wearing UGG boots and shorts, for practical rea-sons, but from a fashion point of view, the outfit combination is oxymo-ronic. Shorts and skirts and typically worn in the summer and slouchy boots and UGG’s are more popular in the fall.
My advice, don’t mix up your seasons. If you wear shorts, wear them with flats or if you must wear boots, choose an ankle boot instead. As for UGG’s, try to avoid wearing them in general, or wear with jeans.
Another big fashion “Don’t” is sporting un-derwear as outerwear.
This is not to be con-fused with the current trend for women, but refers more to guys that
don’t pull up their pants. No one needs to know what kind of underwear you are wearing, nor do they want to see you constantly pulling up your pants.
Guys need to learn that slouching their jeans and showing underwear does not bode well with public perception.
My advice, wear a belt and pull up your pants.
If you want to create the illusion of a slouch, buy jeans that have a lower inseam. This will create the semblance of slouchy pants, without actually having to pull them down.
Another huge fash-ion “Don’t” is to wear leggings as pants. This look is just “TMI,” too much information. The legging, through time, has been abused in how it should be worn. Wear-ing them as pants is not practical, and can easily show areas that should be concealed. I suggest that they be worn with tunics, which are often confused as dresses. Tu-nics are tops that are long enough to wear with leg-gings or jeans. The ap-propriate way to wear a legging is to wear them with tops that go past your bottom, to avoid showing more than nec-essary.
If you make the mis-take of committing a fashion “Don’t”, no wor-ries; all it takes is a little editing and eventually you can turn your outfit into a fashion “Do.”
Spring fashion’s “Do’s” and “Don’ts”
A glamorous new chapter in Agoura Hills nightlife and dining
Photo by Dustin BrewerComing together– The members of Nonstop July will be contributing to the show. From left: Stephen Brawders, Brandn Watts, Zack Indrizzo and Alex Espiritu
A “how-to” guide for avoiding the fashion police this season
Entertainment that won’t break your walletHannah DaveyEditor
Overheated bodies are packed together like sardines. Heads bob and knees bend to the music. Audience members croon along with the lead sing-er, dressed in tight white pants with a Superman shirt on, commanding the stage similar to the man he is imitating: Freddie Mercury. The band be-hind him, all costumed as Freddie’s band mates, Bri-an May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon, play their parts seamlessly, joining in with their fans celebrat-ing the music of the much loved band, Queen, in their tribute band, Queen Nation. Queen Nation is one of several bands that play at The Canyon, a res-taurant/bar/music venue in Agoura Hills that offers a wide selection of musical acts and comedians. The Canyon is unique in that it hosts fantastic headlin-ers and smaller bands all at a price befitting college student budgets.
“Every now and then you want to go have fun and not think about it or finance your house,” said The Canyon owner, Lance Sterling. The Canyon opened in 2000 after Sterling lost his job as a high-er-up at the House of Blues to corporate takeover. His wife encouraged him to get back into the enter-tainment business and The Canyon was born. The Canyon welcomes one to two country, alternative and punk bands, three to four rock bands and one large headliner a month. According to Sterling, The Canyon will be open about 320 out of 365 days this
year. The Canyon also acts as a base for a number of up and coming bands as well. Back in the day, Hoo-bastank used to play at the venue. Now a young band called Jetliner is in their old shoes. “We love new bands,” said Sterling. “From 100 new bands we weed out 80 percent and from the 20 guys on stage, we get about four.” There are a couple weekly attrac-tions students may love to visit at The Canyon. One particularly popular with the college crowd is The Spazmatics, a group that pays homage to the 1980s with fun costumes, blasts from the pasts and popular dance tunes. The Spazmat-ics play The Canyon every Thursday at 10:30 p.m. and
students can see the group for only $10. “We try to keep the bands for young people shows between $10 and $20,” said Sterling. “We keep the ticket price low because it is a really good night out.” Arguably, one of the most special things about The Canyon is the air of familiarity about it. According to Sterling most guests come from about 10 miles away and come about eight times a year on average. This is some-thing that recurring bands at The Canyon notice, in-cluding Queen Nation. “I see so many familiar faces when I’m up onstage,” said Queen Nation guitarist Mike McManus. “Then you give everyone about 10 seconds of your time, then you go see another ‘family member.’” For a slideshow of Queen Nation perform-ing at The Canyon, visit www.StudentVoiceOnline.com. For a list of upcoming acts and ticket informa-tion, visit www.CanyonClub.net.
Collage by Benji Guerrero“Don’ts”– Anonymous demonstrations of “TMI”, the Califor-nia look, and underwear as outerwear.
Photo courtesy of Chapter EightreaDy for aCtion– Chapter Eight’s elaborate main dining room and bar awaits customers.
Photo by Hannah DaveyroCkin’ trubute– Queen Nation’s Joe Retta and Mike McManus light up the stage at the Canyon Club.
