City College’s Oct. 17 1:00 p.m. game was held in Oroville, Calif. against the Butte College Roadrunners, last year’s national champions. Both the the Roadrunners and the Rams are 5-0 so far this season, and ranked no. 1 and 2 in the conference, respectively.

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By Nick Palm
STAFF WRITER

Education in the United States is in jeopardy. It’s a big enough issue that students are missing out on a higher education because of their ethnicity, income level, gender or sexual orientation. But one more disadvantage has been added to the list—their parents never went to college.

On April 30, City College’s board of trustees unanimously passed a measure to ensure equal opportunity and treatment for all students by eliminating ethnic achievement gaps.

Under the new resolution, the college will now collect data from all students including ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, immigrant status, language and ability in order to pinpoint which areas need the most support. Annual data will be compiled and reported by the chancellor. That report will then be used to evaluate, assess and make new policies, which will eliminate any imbalance in City College’s learning environment.

The problem goes much deeper than the same ethnic equality issues America has been dealing with for centuries: It goes deeper than black and white. We are dealing with a class equality issue. Poor and disadvantaged people are struggling to go to college.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the rate of college enrollment has risen for high-income students each year since 1972. The children of economic dynasties are attending college more than ever before, while the low-income families are staying away from post-secondary education.

Among 1992 high school graduates whose parents had not gone to college, 59 percent had enrolled in some form of higher education by 1994. This rate increased to 75 percent among those whose parents had some college experience, and 93 percent among those who had at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree, according to “First Generation College Students: A Literary Review.”

The United States government has set up Gaining Early Awareness for Undergraduate Programs and TRIO, two programs to make it possible for first generation college students to succeed. GEAR UP supplies grants to low income students who want to succeed in a post-secondary education. TRIO — named for three programs that originated in the 1960s—are six outreach and support services intended to motivate and support youth from disadvantaged backgrounds toward going to college.

Since its inception in 1998, the GEAR UP program guided over 215,000 low-income students and helped disadvantaged California middle school students to raise their learning curve to the state-mandated level through grants to their schools. Currently, almost 1 million American students are receiving funding through the TRIO programs. The Council for Opportunity in Education states two-thirds of TRIO recipients must come from families whose parents have not graduated from college and have incomes under $33,000.

The Board of Trustees plans to begin working closer with the San Francisco Unified School District in the future. The Board wants to ensure the school district is doing all it can to prepare students for college — not only to achieve while attending but to eventually graduate.

Considering City College serves 23 to 30 percent of the students graduating from San Francisco high schools, this interdistrict cooperation should have started a long time ago. Students must be informed of resources like the TRIO programs, which can help many San Francisco youth become first generation college students. Every high school senior should be required to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Currently the SFUSD has the right idea, but getting students ready for college is only part of the solution. Because parents are such a major influence in their children’s lives, they must be trained to give support and motivation, and to teach them the importance of getting a post-secondary education.

The First Five California program has been teaching parents the importance of brain development during the first five years of a child’s life. Although this is undoubtedly a crucial time for children to learn, it must continue after age five. A child must be challenged by parents, teachers and peers alike to succeed throughout adolescence and into adulthood, both academically and personally.

Educating parents to encourage their children to succeed will show results by the time that child is in high school and ready to make an important decision about the future of their education.

It’s a well known fact that the American education system needs a lot of work.  But I am pleased that City College has promised to make an honest attempt to change the trend.

Former City College chancellor Philip Day, Jr.

By Fleur Bailey
News Editor

Former City College Chancellor Philip Day appeared in state court July 14 on charges filed by district attorney Kamala D. Harris of alleged misuse of public funds and illegal campaign contributions.

Also facing charges in the case are Associate Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services Stephen Herman and Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities James Blomquist.

“All three defendants turned themselves in to the authorities,” said Erica Derryck, communications director at the district attorney’s office. “They all pleaded not guilty to the charges.”

James Blomquist, associate vice chancellor of facilites

According to a press release from the district attorney’s office, Day, chancellor at City College from 1998 to 2008, and Herman, who has been at City College since 1972, are each being charged with one count of conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds, concealing an account of public money, grand theft, making a political contribution in the name of another and three counts of using college funds to support a political campaign.

Day is also charged with a fourth count of using City College funds to support a political campaign.
“Phil Day has been a public servant in education for years,” said Cristina Arguedas, Day’s attorney. “There is no evidence that one dollar went into his pocket as a result of the mistakes. To call this criminal is highly inappropriate.”

By Nick Squires
Contributing Writer

With the rising cost of textbooks, many students are looking for alternative ways to purchase books without straining their already tight budget.

“I’ve spent $225 on books for 12 units,” said Angela Penny, a City College student, who is studying video editing and production. “My books cost more than my classes.”

In 2005, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report to Congress focusing on textbook prices. The GAO concluded textbook prices have risen an average of 5 percent between 2003-2004, and explains the price increase is due to the addition of supplemental material to textbooks making them “bundled” packages. These bundles can include a CD-ROM and access to web programs designed to keep up with the advancement of technology in classrooms and help part-time teachers with additional teaching support.

New bills such as the Higher Education Act, signed into law on August 14, 2008, were introduced to help explain and remedy the high price of books. The act requires textbook manufacturers to provide students with full textbook pricing information in order to budget for each semester. The bill also ensures that colleges and faculty will have wholesale textbook pricing information when ordering for the next semester, and requires publishers to provide “unbundled” options for “bundled” materials.

This trend of adding supplemental material to textbooks is likely to continue. At City College, the majority of foreign language textbooks contain such supplements — from student activity manuals to DVDs.

Supplements are not easily identified as necessary by book buyers. They hinder students chances of selling a textbook bundle back to bookstores at the end of the semester and effect the amount of used copies of a textbooks available. With textbook manufacturers revising editions every two to three years, students are required to purchase these bundles in order to study the new editions.

“The prices of textbooks seems out of proportion to the size of the book,” said Brenda Kahn, a City College journalism instructor. “Many students have trouble locating books for class.”

The prices of textbooks, regardless of bundling, are still unaffordable for some students. “I’m taking just two classes because that’s all I can afford. I guess I will have to hope my teacher doesn’t use the book much,” said Amy Donaldson, a medical studies City College student.

“Rip-off 101,” a 2005 report by The State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) Higher Education Project outlined the high price of textbooks stating “The average student will spend nearly $900 each year purchasing textbooks.” This report also concluded textbook prices are rising at more than four times the inflation rate.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently vetoed a Senate bill called the Textbook Affordability Act, which would have lowered textbook prices and extended the length of time a textbook edition would be available to college faculty in favor of the Textbook Transparency Act. The Act will provide college faculty with a detailed list of changes between one edition of a textbook to the next and will go into effect in 2010.

“This bill [Textbook Affordability Act] focuses strictly on textbook publisher policies and fails to recognize that the affordability of textbooks is a shared responsibility among publishers, college bookstores and faculty members,” Schwarzenegger said via a letter to the California State Senate.

At City College libraries, the Associated Students (AS) Book Loan Program provides students with free textbooks. It is available to all students but is targeted toward low-income students with first priority given to those receiving financial aid. The program stocks books based on criteria usefulness to the greatest number of students, usually general education and books for transferable classes, according to the AS. However the selection is small and does not cover many classes.

“Students need to remind teachers to deliver books to the reserve section of the library,”  saidSirious Monajami, librarian at the City College Mission campus, speaking about the all City Colege libraries. “Our number of on-reserve books is growing but still small.”

The Campaign to Reduce Textbook Costs affirms textbooks costs is a major issue for middle and low income students. They offer an alternative in “Open Textbooks”, free online versions of common college textbooks. Examples are available at www.maketextbooksaffordable.org.

By Ellen Silk & Doug Ahlgren
News Editor & Staff Writer

From left to right: Newly-elected board of trustees members Milton Marks III, Chris Jackson, Dr. Natalie Berg, and Steve Ngo were officiall sworn in on Jan. 5 at the Wellness Center. JESSICA LUTHI / THE GUARDSMAN

The 2008 board of trustees unanimously approved Dr. Don Griffin’s contract at a Dec. 19, 2008 meeting and confirmed him as chancellor through June 2012, at an initial salary of $287,000 per year according to his employment contract. Griffin has 38 years of service at City College, both as an instructor and administrator. He has been the interim chancellor at City College since March 2008.

“My many years of experience in positions of ever-increasing responsibility at City College of San Francisco have prepared me for this new post,” Griffin said. “I look forward to working with the board of trustees as well as the faculty and staff to continue the college’s legacy of excellence and service to our students and communities.”

Board of Trustee

New City College board of trustees members Steve Ngo and Chris Jackson, along with returning members Dr. Natalie Berg and Milton Marks III, were sworn-in during a ceremony at the Wellness Center on Jan. 5.

All four trustees won their four-year seats after a seven-month election process ending in November 2008. Incumbents Marks and Berg along with former members Rodel Rodis and former City College Police Chief Carl Kohler ran in the nine person, four seat election for the seven member board.  Nearly 200 people watched as Senator Mark Leno swore-in Berg and Ngo. San Francisco Supervisor David Campos and Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson officiated the oaths for Marks and Jackson respectively.

“The Trustees recognize the difficult challenging budgetary times we are experiencing,” said Board President Lawrence Wong.
The Budget Crisis was a major topic of the ceremony. “I am very privileged to serve City College students and the community. I am confident that we will get through this,” Ngo said. She feels, the crisis has to be a number one priority for the college board.

This is Ngo and Jackon’s first time to serve the City College Board of Trustees. However both have experience in other forms of civic government. Ngo has served on other boards including the South East Asian Community Center, CollegeWorks and as a student representative at Hastings College. He is currently an attorney at San Francisco legal firm Minami Tamaki. In his senior year at San Francisco State University, Jackson served as Associated Student President and created Project Connect, which helps K-12 students connect with college . He currently works as a policy analyst for the San Francisco Labor Council.

“This is a great opportunity to bring an under served voice to the halls of government through the board,” said Jackson. During his time on the board he hopes to protect basic skills-and-outreach programs, as well as bring more “green jobs” training and sustainability education to the college.

Head coach Jamie Wong looks on during a recent game against Chabot on Jan. 9. This season is her seventh season as coach.

By Bonta Hill
Sports Editor

Coming into the new season, women’s Basketball Head Coach Jamie Wong had been worried if her freshmen players would have playing chemistry with the remaining five sophomores on the team.

Her concern faded after the Rams achieved three straight wins over some of the top teams in the stated in the first three games her concern faded.

So far, the Rams have reeled off 22 straight wins to start the season which is a school record.

The team worked extremely hard during the off-season, running on the track, and building strength in the weight room.

“We have four post players who run the floor really well, which is something most teams don’t have,” Wong said.

The Rams won five preseason tournaments, including the Hilton Garden Inn Classic in Pasadena and the Sierra Summit.

“We were in a lot of tournaments this year, more than we have been in the past,” Wong said. “I knew it was going to be a test for us and we have responded well to pressure and challenges we have faced.”

Sophomore center Courtney Buster added: “I knew we would be strong after the Pasadena tournament because it’s always a hard tournament, and when we won that, everybody was like, ‘let’s keep working hard, hard work pays off, let’s go.’”

Wong puts her team through are intense drills, she wants to make them tougher. During their two-hour team practice, the women often play in inter-squad scrimmages to get used to the physicality of basketball.

“Twenty-two wins against top ranked teams is no easy task,” Wong said. “Our team has a passion to win and they prepare hard every day in practice to achieve that.”

The spark of the freshmen class, led by Jazmine Holmes, Brittani Allen, Mone Peoples and Heather Chow has contributed their share to the team’s success as well. Wong has a lot of fun coaching them.

“They are a talented group of athletes who have made a great contribution to our success in the pre-season,” Wong said. “I expect them to continue to do so throughout the season.”

Although they lost for the first time against Chabot on Jan. 9, this year’s team is only five wins away from eclipsing the 27 victories accomplished by the 2005-2006 team during their conference championship season.

While most teams have three to four assistant coaches on their staff, Wong only has one coach on her side. After two other assistants stepped down, Wong is now working with assistant coach Derek Lau.

“Derek is a great assistant. Having an assistant like him makes things easier because he is a good worker, organized, and committed to working hard for, and with our athletes,” Wong said.

Despite the intense practice sessions and top notch competition during the pre-season, the team also managed to compile a grade point average of 3.26.

With a number two ranking in the state and five tournament championships, the Rams are focused on winning the conference title and the state championship. After proving they can play against some of the best teams early in the season, they know they have have a bullseye on their back.

The team will continue to work hard in this already memorable season. After after an exciting start to this already memorable season the team will continue to work hard. They have the potential to write City College basketball history!

By Bonta Hill
Editor

The City College woman’s basketball team is trying for their fourth tournament win of the season today at the Karen Franci Invitational in Fresno, Calif. The Rams will play against their tournament rivals the Foothill College Owls at 4 p.m.

The Rams beat the host team Fresno City College in the tournament’s opening round on Thursday 62-57, going on to beat Lassen College 71-63 Friday night to reach today’s championship round.

The Rams are ranked No. 2 in the state and are looking to start the season 14-0, one of the best starts in the team’s history at City College. Next week the Rams will be hosting the Golden Gate Classic at home in the Community Health and Wellness Center Dec. 12-14.

On the Men’s side, the Rams will play for the fifth place title tonight against Diablo Valley College at San Jose City College in San Jose, Calif.

The Rams lost their opening game of the tournament on Dec. 11 to Los Medanos 72-60, but rebounded last night in a big way to beat Contra Costa College 95-57. The Rams’ next game at home is in the Wellness Center against Contra Costa on Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.

For more City College sports coverage, visit The Guardsman.

By Anne-Marie Stark
Contributing Photographer

Holly Ye, 19Business Major“I don’t think it is a good idea. A lot of students are stressed and need a cigarette to calm down.”

Ewelima Salaga, 28International Business Major“I think City College should go smoke free because it is very hard for students who don’t smoke to be around students who do smoke. It’s just students don’t want to jeopardize their health and have the same rights.”

Darius Bright, 20African-American Studies Major“Very optional. A lot of people smoke and it is going to be hard to just stop. It is the right idea, but not at this time.”

Da’Ron Sims 21Undecided“I don’t like smoking. Smoking starts fights, people don’t like smoke in their face.”

Courtney Buster, 20Undecided“It should be by choice. It should be in certain areas. I don’t like walking behind people who blow smoke in my face.”

Ally Jones, 20Bio Chemistry Major“Yes. They should have smoking sections. Compact rooms where the smoke can’t get outside and the smoke is filtered. The 20 feet away from buildings is not enough. Smoke still comes inside. It should be more like 50 feet from the building.”

By Benjamin Taylor
Editor

Inside the Diego Rivera Theater, the stage is almost bare. There’s a wooden step ladder, some coiled rope, and several old props laying displaced on dusty wooden planks. The theater is empty too, save for three occupied seats, and two figures up on stage working among the bare bones of a living room set: a couch, a coffee table and a window frame looking out on empty seats.

Lee Meriwether’s voice echoes through the theater as she recites her lines, occasionally calling out to director Susan Jackson for cues. She gazes out wistfully through the window frame into the shadow, which in one week’s time will be the opening night audience for City College’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”

“It’s really an amazing piece of literature,” said Meriwether, during a break. “It’s about Eugene O’Neill’s family, and he’s so brutally honest about it. Of course, he wrote it when they were all gone. But for him to face those ghosts was really rather amazing at that time.”

It was 2007 when Meriwether and Jackson discovered their mutual admiration for the playwright Eugene O’Neill.

“Lee and I were talking and I told her that I was on the Eugene O’Neill board. She said ‘Oh, I’ve always wanted to do ‘A Long Day’s Journey Into Night,’ and I said ‘so have I!’”

Director Susan Jackson first met Meriwether in 1985, when they both starred in a City College production of “The Artful Lodgers,” a play written by Meriwether’s husband Marshal Borden, who also acted in the play.

“We’ve been in contact since then,” Jackson said. “To direct her is just a dream come true. I certainly enjoyed acting with her on stage, but directing her has just been wonderful.”

As one of City College’s most distinguished alumni, Meriwether took theater classes here in 1955. She was chosen to represent the school that year in the Miss San Francisco beauty pageant, which she won. That year she was also crowned Miss California, and then Miss America. She has starred in television series spanning from “Barnaby Jones” to “All My Children,” appeared in dozens of movies including the original “Batman” starring Adam West and she has remained a dedicated stage actress. Meriwether is back where her career began, performing a play that will benefit the Kennedy Student Scholarship. At 73 years old, she shows no signs of slowing down, nor has she forgotten her City College roots.

Over the years, Meriwether has returned to City College several times to star in productions including “Our Town” and “Happy End,” with the proceeds always going to charitable causes. She always welcomes the opportunity to give back to her school, and to bring attention to college theater, which she says is still alive and well, “and thank heaven for it.”

In this production, Meriwether plays the role of Mary Tyrone, a morphine addicted wife and mother of the dysfunctional Tyrone family.

“It’s one of the great roles in theatrical history really, and there aren’t that many roles out there for women of age,” Meriwether said. “It’s challenging, the magnitude of it. We catch her later on in life, when she’s recovered from a morphine addiction, and all of a sudden it starts over again.”

She speaks with a slow, wise tone that comes with a lifetime’s experience while choosing her words carefully and making sure to convey the deepest meaning with the simplest terms. When on stage, her movements are graceful, and even from the back row her appearance is immediately striking.

Meriwether said from the time she was in the fourth grade, all she ever wanted to do was act.

“It’s unusual that I got to fulfill that dream,” said Meriwether, who first performed on the stage when she was in grammar school, singing “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas,” in a school production of “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

After attending George Washington High School, where she acted in several plays, Meriwether enrolled in City College to study theater arts and English. She was living on Portola Drive at the time with her parents and primarily chose the school because it was conveniently located.

“The theater, when I went here, was very small. It was in the main building down in the basement,” Meriwether said. “It used to be the old ROTC shooting range, so it was very long and narrow.”

She looks up with a soft smile and a far away look as she thinks back.

“We were performing this play, and our backs were right up against the wall, but we needed to have some space behind us. How we had the gumption back then to do this I don’t know,” she said with a laugh. “But I remember one day that I noticed something sparkling shiny, like metal in the wall behind us.”

When the wall behind them was demolished, they found that a gap between two buildings had been filled with thick steel train tracks to prevent bullets from going through into the classroom next door. “The shining metal that I had seen was a bullet,” said Meriwether. “There were hundreds of flattened bullets stuck into the metal.”

One year of City College was all Meriwether took. That year she was chosen to represent the school in the Miss San Francisco pageant.

“I had such a good time, because we didn’t have this theater, we had our little rifle range, and to make that work, to put on plays that worked in that space was fun,” Meriwether said of her year at City College. “And we did it and they worked out pretty darned good. We had a lot of fun.”

“Then it was Miss California, and then Miss America. From there I went right in to television in New York with the today show.”

Meriwether was The Today Show’s first ever female editor, and according to her biography the position enabled her to use her scholarships from the pageants to study dance, singing and acting with some of the top coaches in New York. As a result, she soon landed her first television role on “The Philco Television Playhouse,” with Mary Astor. From there she went on to star in her first motion picture, “The 4-D Man,” with Robert Lansing, and made her first professional stage appearance in “Hateful of Rain.” However, Meriwether is probably most well-known for her portrayal of “Betty” in the CBS series, “Barnaby Jones,” a role she played for eight years and earned her nominations for the Golden Globe and the Emmy awards.

Though it was brief, Lee looks back on her time at City College fondly, reminiscing of when she acted in productions such as “Kind Lady,” which she counts among her favorite roles.
“It was a role where I played a demented woman and she was just off her rocker. I had about six lines, and they were all ‘Yes Henry, yes Henry, yes Henry,’ that’s all she said. She was a swindler’s gal, but she was demented, so he just used her. It was a wild play.”

Today, Meriwether is based in Los Angeles and flies out to New York periodically for appearances on “All my Children.” She recently co-starred with Ed Harris, playing his drunken, cigarette-smoking mother in a new movie called “Touching Home,” which has yet to be released and last year played the part of a secretary in the movie “The Ultimate Gift,” with James Garner.

According to Susan Jackson, Meriwether returns to City College about every eight or nine years.

“I’m hoping to encourage some other alumni to come back and appear here,” Meriwether said. “Ted Lange and I wanted to do ‘Love Letters,’ and we may well do it within the next two years. I talked to him a while ago and he said ‘Oh yeah, lets do it!’”

Jackson says that she is happy to give students the opportunity to work with someone of Lee’s caliber and experience, and also a chance to showcase O’Neill’s work.

“Lee has come to my classes and talked at my classes. She’s a part of the college community, truly,” Jackson said.

Meriwether says that she is having a great time working on the play.

“I’m loving it,” Meriwether said. “It’s been quite a moving experience.”

DESMOND MILLER / GUARDSMAN

By Graham Henderson
Staff Writer

Prohibiting smoking on a public school campus such as City College is discrimination. City College still allows smoking almost anywhere an campus, the only exceptions are inside of buildings and within 20 feet of a building entrance or open windows. These regulations are not City College rules, they are California state laws.

About one in five college students are regular cigarette smokers, according to a 2006 survey conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

While this is nearly10 percent less than what was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1997, 20 percent is still a large minority. A minority that is too big to discriminate against.

Many community colleges do not agree with City College’s stance on smoking. In California, four community colleges have campuses that are 100 percent tobacco-free, according to statistics compiled by the California Youth Advocacy Network.

Another six community colleges allow tobacco but only in smokeless forms and another 49 schools limit smoking to either parking lots or designated smoking areas around campus.

There is no doubt any more that smoking is extremely harmful to your health, nor is it healthy to inhale second-hand smoke. In fact, prolonged exposure to second-hand smoke can be more harmful over time because unlike a cigarette, the smoke is not filtered before being inhaled.

Everyone is already aware of the potential effects. Smoking is a choice, and if people want to harm themselves, then they are entitled to that right.

As for second-hand smoke, it is not difficult for students who don’t smoke to simply avoid it. Smokers tend to congregate together, making it easy to avoid the area.

If a student absolutely needs to walk through a group of smokers, while exiting a building for example, one sniff of smoke is not going to get them hooked on nicotine. It may not be healthy, but neither is walking around the polluted cities of

Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, or breathing in smoke at a bonfire.

However, this is not to say that smokers should be allowed to smoke by entrances or inside buildings. It’s not fair for students with health problems who may be sensitive to smoke.

That’s why it’s illegal and smokers need to honor the law.

There is also the problem of how to prevent tobacco use on a campus that is designated as tobacco-free. Cigarettes are extremely addictive and students who smoke will not quit just because they are not allowed to smoke on campus.

At San Diego’s Mesa College, students have continued to smoke despite the campus being designated as smoke-free, according to a Feb. 12 article in The Mesa Press. Because the campus is smoke-free, there is nowhere to discard cigarette butts, so they end up on the ground, making more work for the custodial staff, the article said.

Smoking is not a crime. Students who smoke on campus are law abiding citizens. City College is a public school, and not allowing students to partake in a legal activity on campus is simply not right. It is not the job of a school to tell people not to smoke.

Tobacco is only legal for adults who are old enough to make decisions that will effect the rest of their lives. Smoking is, quite frankly, stupid. But being stupid is not a crime.