Rampage

Accreditation

Rampage

Fresno City College

Volume CXXI, Edition 4

Oct. 19, 2011

These words were taken from fresno city college’s self-study report. The larger the words the more often they were used in the study.

October 19, 2011

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Accreditation

The History Of FCC Accreditation

In its 101-year-old history, Fresno City College has gone through numerous accreditation reviews and with the exception of the 2006 warning, the college has had no problems.

The college opened its doors to the Central Valley as Fresno Junior College on Sept. 12 1910 with 20 students and eight faculty members, but did not receive its accreditation until 1957.

Charles L. McLane, first president of the college, said his goals included impressing “upon students and the public at large the fact that serious work of distinctive college standards is being undertaken.”

FCC conducted its first institutional self-study in 1957, and at that time, the leaders of the college identified student success as their main goal. In the fall of 1957, the college had 2,832 students and 9,000 books in the library. The school focused on expanding the library and increasing its book collection to 25,000 within five years.

In 1988, the visiting accreditation team recommended six improvements for FCC, including addressing access to the library stacks for disabled students; implementing a philosophy and mission for the community services

Photo By Paul Schlesinger

By Frank Lopez Rampage Reporter

Students enter Old Administration Building segments of district

program; seeking a resolution to the demolition or refurbishing of the Old Administration Building; considering a study of student retention rates; reinstating the feelings of certificated and classified ownership of the master plan, and implementing a comprehensive research and evaluation report which is data based and which addressed all college programs and activities.

Partly in response to the recommendations, in 1991, the State Center Community College District board of trustees adopted the 1991-1996 master plan. SCCCD went through a 10 month planning process which involved all

personnel as well as the community at large, established 30 goals that were designed to guide the district during that period in its mission of providing comprehensive and innovative education programs.

By the fall of 1992, 18,608 students were attending FCC. In that same year, the Futures Committee was formed to prepare a paper on areas of strategic opportunities for the school. The committee consisted of representatives from the college faculty, student body, classified staff and administration working together to reach consensus on issues facing the college in coming years.

In 1992 the Student Success Task Force was also formed to improve the use of college data plans to expand the learning resources facilities. When the accreditation report was released in 1994, FCC was commended for the groups that were formed to help with planning and response to the issues facing the school.

It was recommended that the college continue with its implementations of strategic planning and to expand its learning resource centers and continue the use of the Library Automation System which had started in 1986.

In 2000, with a population of over 20,000 students, FCC went through another accreditation cycle. The accreditation team commended the school for developing its first mission statement and its strategic planning and recommended that FCC continue the implementation of the planning process that integrates budgeting, program review, strategic planning and staff development.

The accreditation team recommended that the college articulate its plan for distance education and technology and to coordinate it with staff development, resource allocation and staff support to ensure effective implementation for students. It was also recommended that the college address the deficiencies in the currency, quality and depth of the library’s materials collection.

Following the 2005 accreditation cycle, the college

FCC’s Changes Since Last Review

By Karina Ornelas Rampage Reporter

In Oct. 2005, an accrediting team found three major deficiencies at Fresno City College; since then FCC has worked hard to correct these problems in order to meet the standards for the ongoing 2011 Accreditation.

The warnings that the college received in 2006 were for not meeting select standards set by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACCJC), the recognized institutional accrediting body.

Specifically, the 2006 accreditation report shows that the warnings were directed at three main areas -- Participatory Governance, Program Review, and Library Resources.

According to information on the ACCJC website, the accredited status of a college continues during a warning period but is not reaffirmed until the conditions which warranted the warning are resolved.

FCC was required to submit a follow-up report, and had a two-year period to correct the deficiencies. Failure to correct the deficiencies noted under the recommendations and meet the

standards could result in the commission terminating accreditation for the college.

“The last accreditation brought a lot of change that needed to happen,” said Claudia Habib, president of the academic senate.

Questions remain whether the college has done enough to prevent the problems it had in its last accreditation cycle.

In its first recommendation following the 2005 accreditation, ACCJC required that FCC’s leaders to ensure that all constituent groups, including the ASG and Academic Senate, participate in planning and decision making of the college by applying a participatory governance process.

“It’s a challenge with communication; it’s very hard sometimes.

It takes everyone to agree and participate,” said academic senate president, Claudia Habib, who has been active in the academic senate in the last three years.

It is a challenge that FCC has tried to overcome by creating the College Governance Council which was approved in March of 2008. The governing council then developed a College Governance Handbook which all constituent groups approved in May 2010. The handbook explicitly states that the council is responsible for review-

ing and ensuring maintenance of the shared governance process.

“Although there is still room for growth, it [participatory governance] is one area that has made a lot of progress,” said Habib. The participatory governance model now in place at FCC meets the requirements of the commission and is expected to guide the college’s planning efforts.

The second recommendation required that the college develop and implement a workable systematic program review model that is able to incorporate consideration of the college’s financial resources and embraced by all college constituents.

In response to the second recommendation, in 2009, the college approved a revised operating agreement for the Program Review Committee, and the occupational program review was established as part of the college’s program review process. Increased emphasis was placed on curriculum, assessment, outcomes and the analysis of supporting data through a revision of the instructional program review template.

“We are a big group trying to learn. We’re all involved, and we are taking the steps in the right direction,” said Habib, about the committees’ need to adequately implement these fresh processes.

The program review process is now constantly being evaluated through surveys of participants.

Looking ahead, FCC plans on using survey data to assess the effectiveness of the program review process.

The third recommendation of the accrediting body required the library faculty to review and revise the collection development policy of the library.

According to the 2011 Self Study report, “The team strongly recommends that the college remedy the serious deficiencies in the currency, quality and depth of the library’s materials collections as recommended by the previous team.”

The recommendation prompted the college to make a significant commitment in financial resources in order to reverse the library’s book collection deficiencies. The library faculty made an analysis of collection levels by Dewey subject area, which is now a guide for acquisitions, ensuring all materials are purchased specifically to meet curricula needs. The faculty also analyzed which specific subject areas of the collection needed to be updated the most. This ongoing analysis is carried over each year to adjust the collection as needed.

According to the 2011 Self Study report, “The library has made significant progress in addressing the recommendation of the visiting team.” To increase the number of print holdings per student, FCC aimed for a goal of increase by an average of at least

received a warning for having not adequately addressed all of the recommendations from the previous accreditation report. The accreditation team recommended that FCC implement participatory governance, program review, planning, evaluations, distance education, technology plan, and library resources. Within a year, FCC’s warning was lifted.

California community colleges are now in the 2011-2016 accreditation cycle. Compared to other colleges of similar size, FCC has similar accreditation reports.

FCC’s interim president, Tony Cantu, said, “We’re in the mix.

There is normally around 15 to 25 percent of community colleges in California that are on sanctions for a variety of reasons.”

The prevalent recommendations for FCC have mostly remained the same during its accreditation history. They have included strategic planning and development, technology planning, distance education, program reviews and evaluations, and library resources.

Cantu said he is sure that the accreditation report from this cycle will be favorable for FCC. “We’ve implemented and we addressed all of the recommendations that they [accreditation team] made last time. We’ve got our governance process in place,” Cantu said. “We’ve got a planning process that is evolving and working very well. We’ve got some gaps in the process but we’ve identified those gaps, and we are working on them.”

The reporter can be reached at FLopez@therampageonline.com

3,000 titles a year, a goal that has already been exceeded by an average of 3,658 titles over the past five years. The e-book collection was also expanded by about 2,000 additions to the collection.

“Since the last accreditation, the College has invested over $881,000 to acquire materials that expand the depth, breadth, and currency of the collection.

The College has also provided over $236,000 for electronic resources,” according to the self study report.

The self study also provided detailed description of the library’s holding as of July 31, 2010 -81,887 circulating print volumes, 28,357 e-book volumes, 13,556 non-circulating volumes (law and reference), and 954 bound periodical volumes. Additionally, The Library currently subscribes to 133 print periodical titles, and its media collection includes 6,096 video and DVD items, 502 audiobook items, 798 music compact disks and 66 microfiche titles.

In the follow-up visit after the warning, the accreditation team found that Fresno City College had remediated the areas it was found wanting and lifted the warning.

District and college leaders are upbeat and optimistic about the college’s prospects.

“Overall, I think it’s positive,” Habib said. “Even though we got a warning, it made us look at areas we needed to work on… processes that didn’t exist before.”

The reporter can be reached at KOrnelas@therampageonline.com

Rampage

Fresno City College Volume CXXI, Edition 4

visit us at therampageonline.com

October 19, 2011

photo by

Paul Schlesinger

Fresno Joins Global Movement

By Mia Barraza Rampage Reporter Occupy Fresno joined 100 cities in the United States and 1,500 cities worldwide for the Global Day of Rage on Oct. 15, 2011.

The global day of action was in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street movement that began a month ago in New York City to protest corporate greed and cuts to social spending, and to demand better living conditions and a more equitable distribution of resources.

Inspired by the Arab Spring and the European anti-austerity movements, Ad Busters, a Vancouverbased magazine, in July called for a protest on Wall Street by its readership, the “rebels, radicals, and utopian dreamers.” The call was answered by 2,000 people and the first general assemblies were held in Bowling Green Park in New York City to decide the course of action for the protest.

The occupation began Sept. 17 with thousands of protesters gathering in New York City’s Financial District.

The local demonstration called Occupy Fest turned the south side of Fresno’s Courthouse Park into a wall of noise and a kaleidoscope of Fresnans from different walks of life.

Effigies of political party mascots - a donkey and elephant and a pig as a stand in for the corporatists – hung from the Anna Woodward

Hundreds have joined Occupy Fresno protests. This includes some of the protestersrs camping in a section of Courthouse since October 9.

Memorial Fountain. A Fresno something about what we believe do this because we have no genBrown Beret held up a megaphone is wrong in society.” Adame who eral static theme,” says Michael while a fully-disabled Iraq veteran is a member of MEChA at FCC Dominquez, an FCC student who addressed the crowd. said she hopes to see local issues has been a part of the occupation The sounds of hula-hooping addressed within the general as- since it began. children comingled with talk of the semblies of Occupy Fresno. “Not It was also the first day of ocLos Angeles city council members far from here, along G Street, is cupation for Miguel Villegas, anwho publically supported the oc- one of the highest concentrations other FCC Student and part of the cupations in their city. A young of poor people in the city,” Adame newly formed group Autónomos, woman, with a red 99% painted said. “There should be better op- one of the many organizations on her cheek, tells her companion portunities, so that we can all be present. “It’s great to see the youth about the looming general strike productive members of society.” out here. Students need to get in Greece. Literature is distributed The occupation in Fresno began informed. The system is blindly about last week’s contingent of on Sunday, Oct. 9 with community oppressing people,” Villegas said.

Occupy Fresno “Just by showing up who attended the here we can inform Fresno Unified “We’re not getting smaller. We each other on what’s School District going on and draw have a lot of community support.” attention to Wall meeting where they demanded Street. We’re trying that the superin-Simone Whelan-Rhodes to show that we want tendent and adthat change,” says ministrators take Villegas. a pay cut.

Veteran local orThe crowd inganizer, Gloria Hercluded more than 150 people members occupying Courthouse nandez, said there were a lot of who enjoyed free food and free Park. They have held the park new faces on the first day of occlothes, while other events -- pre- continuously and plan to stay in- cupation. sentations by various speakers, definitely. Local law enforcement “We’ve continued to grow,” children’s games, a performance have told occupiers that they can- said Simone Whelan-Rhodes, by the Raging Grannies, hip hop not camp out in the park and they one of the occupiers. “We’re not performances and an impromptu have so far complied by staying in getting smaller. We have a lot of drum circle – went on. the park but not settling down for community support. We’ve been Saturday was the first day that long periods of time. getting water, money, and food Fresno City College student Be“We want to have a constant donated, even wireless internet rañea Adame was able to join the presence. We are finding differ- access. Someone gave us a battery occupation. She said, “I love to ent interests and bringing them to charge our phones and laptops.” see that Fresno is mobilizing to do together. We have been able to Similar occupations have been

The Big Fresno Fair

8

The D- Pad: Gamer Violence

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FCC Rams Football

steadily cropping up across the nation in cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Boston and around the world, in Australia, Mexico, Canada, and Ireland.

Each occupation holds autonomous general assemblies and plans their own actions. The occupations show a public shift of focus from electoral politics to direct action.

In the U.S. the criticism is not only of the powerful banks and corporations but of the U.S. political system.

The largest protests on Saturday were held in Italy with 200,000 people demonstrating in Rome.

In New York City, 24 people were arrested on Saturday while attempting to withdraw money from their personal accounts with global banking giant Citibank. They were locked in and detained within the bank by police.

“We’re bypassing the local and national electoral process. We want the people in power to realize that we know what they are really doing,” said Michael Dominquez in explanation of the tactic of the movement. “We are waking up and as a people we are not consenting.

These bankers and politicians have not earned our consent.”

The reporter can be reached at MBarrazaMartinez@therampageonline.com

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News

October 19, 2011

Campus Briefs

By Alexis Abrahamson Rampage Reporter

FCC Concert Band

Accreditation Forum

at 4:30 p.m. The game and Homecoming festivities will be Tonight starting at 7:30 p.m. the starting at 7:00 p.m. at Ratcliff Fresno City College band will be If you have any concerns or stadium. Come and cheer for having a concert to show off their interests about the college, come the Rams as they battle against music playing skills. The students meet the accreditation team today Sierra College, go Rams! will be playing classic music to speak your mind at the forum from the past century, including they are having. It will be held “Crown Imperial” which was today at the Old Administration all arnival heard across the globe when building room 251, at 1:00 p.m.

Prince William and the Duchess where you can be heard by of Cambridge Kate Middleton people that make a difference.

On Oct. 31, FCC will be having walked out of the cathedral as a very hallows eve while a married couple. Amongst the students get into their creative band, there is a wind ensemble as costumes and have some fun well! Come support your fellow Homecoming & Tailgate with the community. There will BBQ! students and see this marvelous be candy, food, and games for performance conducted by Dale all friends and family to enjoy.

Engstrom. Tickets are available at This is going to be a grand The fun will be from 5:30 the FCC theatre box office only occasion with students showing p.m.-8 p.m. at Ratcliff stadium. for $8 General admission and $6 off their school spirit and Gather up your posse and make for students and seniors. See you eating some awesome BBQ at this Halloween an epic one. there! the tailgate before the game

THE RAMBURGER ROUND-UP

F

Beginning today at 10 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m., take a break with us and enjoy some good grub and R&R. If you bring your FCC student I.D. you will receive a free burger, chips, and drink! If you haven’t gotten an I.D. yet, the meal will still only be just $5. Don’t miss out, come join us at the free speech area and make your stomach happy.

C

Three Strikes Colloquium On Thursday, Oct. 20 from 7-9 p.m. FCC will be hosting a colloquium discussing California’s “three strikes” law in the Old Administration building.

Touchdown Mondays After every Fresno City College Rams football game recieve an extra 5% off on apparel for every touchdown we score (25% max), until Nov. 14. to snag your FCC gear.

The reporter can be reached at AAbrahamson@therampageonline.com

Ram pantry Aims To Provide Online Stories For Students In Need

By Elizabeth Amaral Rampage Reporter The student activities office at Fresno City College is planning a program known as Ram Pantry, a food distribution service to serve students and families in the community.

As soon as they can get the approval of legal counsel from the State Center Community College District, the pantry will officially open its doors to students and others in need.

“The president of FCC has to give the district legal counsel the plans of the food distribution system, so they can actually take a look at it,” said James Miser, one of the founders of the distribution service. The college president has given the district counsel the action plan of the Ram Pantry to

Fresno City College

insure that the food service does not create liability issues for FCC. The idea first came up in the spring semester, when Miser collaborated with VP of Inter Club Council Gabriel Cordova, the Disabled Students Program and Daniel Gai, former ASG president.

Over the summer of 2011, Miser and Cordova planned out the concept of Ram Pantry. Once the fall semester started, Cordova submitted the action plan of the Ram Pantry to the Strategic Planning Council for approval. SPC is waiting for the recommendations of the district counsel before approving or disapproving of the plan at their scheduled meeting at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.

Once Ram Pantry opens its doors, it will be held every month. Students will be able to walk in and receive their com-

modities which are foods donated by food banks and the community. “Commodities will vary from month to month,” said Cordova.

Cordova said he and his collaborators are trying to set up a referral system in which counselors, EOPS and Disabled Students Services can recommend students to receive help from the pantry.

Instructors will also be able to recommend students so they can receive the monthly commodities.

The founders of Ram Pantry said they have seen an increase in the students needing help from the summer. According to Miser, sixty percent of the student population at FCC is below the federal poverty line.

“We will be generating statistics and set up the board of directors to submit something to the college to say these many people need

service,” said Miser. “The only reason why we are going through this process is so it won’t go away after a semester or two.”

Miser also said the idea of distributing food to needy students is getting a lot of support. Several clubs were interested in this idea according to minutes generated from ICC meetings. Not only does the idea of the Ram Pantry have student support, it also has much administration support.

Interim President Tony Cantu and Michael Guerra, former vice president of administrative services, have been helpful to the process. Miser said, “Tony Cantu has been a great help, and without him, this wouldn’t be getting done.”

The reporter can be reached at EAmaral@therampageonline.com

Rampage About Us

Reporters

Editors Managing Editor: Sydney Excinia News Editor: Jesse Franz Views Editor: Dylan Domingos Entertainment: Laura Bradley Online/Production: Ramiro Gudino Photo Editor: Paul Schlesinger Art Director: Austin Verburg Business Manager: Sydney Excinia Copy Editor: Tomas Kassahun Faculty Adviser: Dympna Ugwu-Oju

Tomas Kassahun Frank Lopez Pabel Lopez Paulo Nino Karina Ornelas Brendan Raley Dylan Picazo Nicole Randazzo Kaitlin Regan Philip Romar Mia Barraza Martinez Jordan Russell Paul Schlesinger Joshua Sheppard David Thammavongsa Austin Verburg

By Dylan Picazzo

For those who want to ditch their fast food eating habits, check out this article and get the insight on how to make a tasty homemade stir-fry.

Creative Halloween Costume Ideas

By Dylan Picazzo

This holiday, ditch the expensive stores and create your own Halloween costume. Check out some creative ideas for nifty homemade costumes.

Godsmack Concert Review

By Alexis Abrahamson

The Rampage is an award-winning newspaper published biweekly by the Fresno City College Journalism 4 & 5 programs and is a member of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges. Views expressed in The Rampage are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect those of Fresno City College, its students, administration or the State Center Community College District.

Alexis Abrahmson Nathan A. Alonzo Elizabeth Amaral Sasha Bell Laura Bradley Tutmosis Brown Annette De Dios Marcel Dilworth Dylan Domingos Daniel Engelhaupt Sydney Excinia Jesse Franz Kristoffer Goka Emillio Gutierrez Maddie Hagobian Moriah Jones

Chef Boy R’ Dylan

Contacts Rampage Office rampage-business@fresnocitycollege.edu Adviser dympna.ugwu-oju@fresnocitycollege.edu

Fresno City College 1101 E. University Ave. Fresno, CA 93741 Office: (559) 442-8262 Fax: (559) 265-5783

Visit our web site for updates www.therampageonline.com

Last time this band came to Fresno they opened up for Metallica, check out their performance at this years Fresno Fair.

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News

October 19, 2011

5

Fresno City Enrollment Rates Drop

By Jordan Russell Rampage Reporter

Enrollment at Fresno City College is down by 14.31 percent this semester compared to the fall of 2010, according to information available on the Institutional Research of the State Center Community College District website.

Last fall, there were approximately 3,095 more students attending the college than there are now.

While this may sound like good news for a campus that is portrayed as overcrowded, it also raises questions and concerns about what the future will bring.

Many attribute the decline to the budget crisis that is currently plaguing the state and uncertainties about funding sources. Other SCCCD campuses have suffered some decline; however, none as sharp as FCC’s. Reedley College’s enrollment is down 7.68 percent compared to last fall while the North Centers lost only .76 percent of their head count.

Interim president, Tony Cantu, said the administration purposefully cut the number of courses it offers, as well as the number of students it will accept, in order to prevent having to pay for students for which the state did not reimburse FCC. Cantu said, “It [the decline] was deliberate. We are trying to work within our funding.”

However, Lacy Barnes, President of the State Center Federation of Teachers, Local 1533, is concerned about the ramifications of the decline. “The district chose to cut course offerings in the name of lack of funding from the state,”

Barnes said.

“This means fewer opportunities for students to matriculate and articulate. This means no income for many of our part-time instructors,” said Barnes. “In the long run, this means fewer students attending college in any districts because they have been met with closed doors. They may not try a second time to get into classes even when things change down the road.”

Prior to the decline, FCC was ac-

was allocated in good times. “Because we were fine, we absorbed that cost. Given the budget situation, we had to make adjustments,” Habib said. “We couldn’t take that many more students beyond what we were allocated, so we adjusted a little bit. I wouldn’t say enrollment is down – it is more where it should have been all along.”

Habib says it’s not just administrators making random decisions, but rather a way to follow the

Changes In SCCCD Enrollment Rates Fresno City College Reedley North Centers cepting students past its capacity, explained Kelly Fowler, interim vice president of instruction. The administration responded to these overages by cutting courses and capping enrollment more strictly.

“We traditionally have served 4,000 more students than we are paid. In addition, the state continually lowers our allocation and thus we have to respond by decreasing the number of courses offered each semester,” Fowler said. “In some cases, to keep the same number of sections, we lowered how many students could enroll in the class.”

Cantu said that even with the decline, the college is still over cap.

Claudia Habib, president of FCC’s Academic Senate, said the college was able to accommodate up to 16 percent more than what

14.31% 7.68% 0.76% budget very closely, with the commitment of serving the community.

Barnes’ evaluation of the district was less optimistic. “I think the district is earning about a C+. I think it could do better even in light of the budget crisis,” Barnes said. “They have significantly more resources in reserves than many well run districts like Los Rios and Los Angeles and should be using those dollars to provide as many services to students as possible. That’s why the district has received the money to begin with.”

The administration is taking steps to accommodate some of the displaced students by adding short-term classes. Habib explained that the state budget, passed on June 15, allocated more funds to community colleges.

“Because of that,” she said, “now at this point we have room to add a few more courses and serve more students.”

Beginning Oct.6, registration began for 12 additional classes that will only last the remainder of the semester. These classes meet at least twice weekly, each meeting lasting over three hours.

Habib said, “The decision was made to offer courses in the areas that students need the most.”

These areas are English, Biology, Communication, History, Math, Political Science, and Psychology.

But Habib also acknowledges the potential problems of adding these classes. “Those departments are going to have a little impact in the sense that they have to collaborate trying to come up with new sections, find faculty – whatever we need to do. The good news is that we’re trying to open opportunities for students,” said Habib.

The primary concern is finding faculty to teach these classes. Barnes said the additional classes will be helpful for students if teachers can be found. She said, “As a result of no classes being offered initially, many of our parttime instructors may have found jobs elsewhere. If they haven’t, the question becomes, ‘Can I take this class in Reedley and be back for my class in Fresno?’ If there happen to be two classes available’. These instructors may ask the question; ‘Is it even worth having a class that doesn’t pay for gasoline?’” ‘ So what should students do to cope with these changes? The answer varies. Fowler advises stu-

dents to stay on top of deadlines.

“Classes fill quickly, which means that students should be aware of their registration dates and payment due dates,” she said.

Habib agrees, “Students are going to be more careful now to enroll in the classes they need and really plan ahead so they stay in the classes they need as opposed to dropping and changing schedules, which is hard to plan. But I think everybody has a stake in having a more efficient system.”

Barnes advises students, as well as faculty, to organize themselves and demand that monies be used to provide them services. “Faculty should rally around these same issues and continue to provide the instructions needed to help students achieve their academic pursuits,” said Barnes.

There is little certainty about what the future will bring. Habib says the constant change of budgeting will make it difficult to lay down solid plans for future semesters.

Barnes, though, said that enrollment will rise again. “Historically, when fiscal times are bad, people return to school. Community colleges typically are where students return to.”

Regardless of whether enrollment grows or continues to decline in future semesters, Fowler says FCC administration “will continue to work closely with the district office, campus leadership, faculty, staff, and students, to ensure that a full complement of courses are offered each semester for students.”

The reporter can be reached at JRussell@therampageonline.com

October 19, 2011

6

Entertainment

horror Film favorites

By Dylan Domingos Rampage Reporter

Cult Classics: Horror movie

classics set the gruesome tone for the newer generation of films that soon followed in their footsteps.

The Exorcist (1973): A movie that frightened the earlier generations as teens. Regan (Linda Blair), a young girl possessed by an evil spirit when using the Ouija Board, creates a frightening nightmare for her mother and those trying to explain her erratic behavior.

During its time, “The Exorcist,” was a controversial, blasphemous film because of its demeaning nature to religious beliefs and the use of a young actress that had stretched the boundaries of right and wrong.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): A true story

told of a real life serial killer, Ed Geins. Although the plot of the movie was blurred into fiction, Leather Face was indeed based off of the latter. In 1974, the movie was banned from many countries and cities because of its controversial depiction of violence and its influence on the horror movie genre. The Times listed “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” as one of the top 50 most controversial films of all time.

Halloween (1978): The movie that set the tone for up and coming slasher films. “Halloween” is an independent film written, scored, produced and directed by John Carpenter (director of “The Thing” and “Christine”). Michael Myers is a crazed killer who will stop at nothing to end his family’s bloodline.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) : A killer that

only murdered his victims in their dreams, set the tone in the slasher movie industry because Freddy

Kruger was one of the main killers who was not mute. “A Nightmare On Elm Street” is the second highest grossing horror franchise, the first being “Friday the 13th.”

into traps the option to live, but for a price. Survival was Jigsaw’s goal for his victims, because he wanted them to learn from their wrong doings.

The Rebirth of Horror:

The Strangers (2008): A movie that defied all reasoning for the death of three victims. In the past, there was a main reason in the point of view of a mass murder. Now, it is “The Strangers” that brought blood sport to the big screen. A couple returns home from their friends’ wedding reception only to be tortured and abused by three strangers in masks.

The killers’ motives for murdering the couple were simple: they were bored and the couple happened to be home.

After many of the cult classics began to die down because of their comedic sequels, the horror genre would need to bend the rules and think of a new plan, which is exactly what these following movies did.

Scream (1996): Wes Craven (director of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Last House on the Left”) was apprehensive at first to direct another horror film until he was given the screenplay for “Scary Movie,” which was the original title. “Scream” would bring a new perspective for slasher films and would revive the horror genre from its deathbed. “Scream” left moviegoers guessing who the murder was under the Ghost Face mask until the very end. It set the tone for more movies that soon followed in its footsteps, such as “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Urban Legend,” “Valentine” and many more.

Modern Horror Movies: Now there are no rules to

what the horror genre will bring forth. Aliens, Zombies, Vampires, Ghosts and Demons, insane killers, etc. from all walks of life. All of these have one thing in common; to scare the audience and to make sure they are afraid of every day occurrences.

Saw (2004): A movie that reigned terror on those who did not appreciate the simple things in life. Jigsaw, a man that heightened the senses of those he kidnapped, placed his victims in puzzling traps that would give them one simple rule: to follow the rules. Although Jigsaw never truly cold-heartedly kills any of his victims by his own hands, he always gave those he put

The Season of Horror Movie Remakes: Although cult classics will remain as such, technology’s advancement brought forth a generation that will only laugh at the older horror genre movies. Many remakes to the classics were made, and while staying true to the nature of each original’s storyline, they intensified the blood, gore, torture, and pure shock value of each film.

A few others include: Halloween (2007) – Written and directed by Rob Zombie Friday the 13th (2009) – Directed by Marcus Nispel A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) – Directed by Samuel Bayer The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) – Directed by Marcus Nispel Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Directed by Zach Snyder The Hills Have Eyes (2006) – Directed by Alexandre Aja The Last House on the Left (2009) – Directed by Dennis Eliadis The reporter can be reached at ddomingos@therampageonline.com

Haunted Attractions

By Sasha Bell Rampage Reporter

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Raisin Hell Ranch

Haunted Cornfield 7451 Rd 32 Madera, CA 93637 raisinhellranch.com October 14-31st (Closed Monday and Tuesday Nights, except for Monday Oct 31) Time: 7-11 p.m.

Attractions: Scarecrow’s Revenge Chupacabras Feast The Black-Out Maze Admission: 1 attraction: $15 2 attractions: $25 3 attractions: $ 30 VIP Fast Pass: $40 inlcudes 3 attractions with front of the line privileges.

Possible discount when you e-mail them!

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The Grove Haunt

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The 5th Realm

801 Santa Ana Ave.

Clovis, CA 93612 (559) 475-9666 www.5threalm.com Sept. 23-Oct. 31 (open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, except for Oct. 31) Time: 7-11 p.m.

Attractions: Slaughterhouse Delirium in 3D Epidemic Insanitarium Nocturnal Admission: VIP Combo: All five attractions plus front of the line privilege- $40 Super Combo: All five attractions for -$35 4X Combo: Any four attractions for-$30 Triple Combo: (any three attractions): $25 Nocturnal: $10 Epidemic: $10 Insanitarium: $10 Slaughterhouse: $8 Delirium in 3D: $8

14265 E. Goodfellow Ave. Sanger, CA (559) 356-3958 www.thegrovehaunt.com

Oct. 7-Oct. 30 The Raven’s Gate (Closed Monday and Tuesday, ex 14295 E. Adams Ave cept for Tuesday Oct. 25) Parlier, CA 93648 Time: 5:30-Midnight (10 p.m. on www.theravensgate.com Sundays) Oct. 1-30 Attractions: (Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays) Haunted Forest Time: 7 p.m..-Midnight (10 p.m.

Haunted House on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday) Haunted Hayride Attractions: Admission: Raven’s Grove Haunted Hayride Hay Ride Adult: $10 Trick or Treat Forest Hay Ride 11 and under: $6 (Opens Oct. 15) House Adult: $12.50 Midway Carnival House 11 and under: $9.50 Admission: Forest Adult: $12.50 Raven’s Grove: $15 Forest 11 and under: $9.50 Haunted Hayride Adult: $12 Combo (all three attractions) Purple Haunted Hayride Child Decay Adult (on Oct. 19, 20, 23, 25(10 and under): $8 27): $28.50 Trick or Treat Forest Parent: $5 Trick or Treat Forest Child Combo (all three attractions) Purple (8 and under): $5 Decay Child (Oct. 19, 20, 23, 25-27): Fast Pass: $5 $23 E-ticket Combo: $23 Combo (all three attractions) Black (Haunted Hayride Death Adult (Oct. 21, 22, 28- 30): Raven’s Gate, $32.50 Midway Carnival) Combo (all three attractions) Black Midway Carnival: $5 Death Child (Oct. 21, 22, 28- 30): $25

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The reporter can be reached at sbell@therampageonline.com

Antojitos Acosta es bueno!

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By Nathan Alonzo Rampage Reporter In these tough economic times students do their best to get the best bang for their buck. Antojitos Acosta helps them do just that.

Just down the street from Fresno City College, this affordable Mexican restaurant offers a large variety of delicious food selections to choose from.

One of the things that makes this restaurant so attractive is the traditional Mexican vibe that one would get by going to a restaurant in Mexico itself, with the atmosphere and the overall making of the food giving off that impression.

Undoubtedly the best part of Antojitos Acosta is the food, which ranges in price from a side of rice or beans at $1.50 to an elaborate and large portioned combo plate at around $12.00. One of the foods that is a staple and that this restaurant nailed are the Carne Asada tacos, at less than $1.50 these tacos will definitely satisfy a meaty

hunger crave that will hit the spot.

Some of the other delicious items that the restaurant offers are their traditional Mexican waters better known as “aguas frescas,” which are sure to bring a smile to the face of those who have not had one in a while.

With the restaurants proximity to the college students will find that it is only a quick walk down the street on Weldon, and that the walk is definitely worth it. This is a great place to go to for students who have a while to eat in between classes and are looking for something as delicious as their mother makes. Even better is the fact that the food does not take forever to make, so this is even a great place to go to when in a hurry.

So the next time you find yourself asking where you want to get a quick bite, take a walk down Weldon.

Grade: AThe reporter can be reached at nalonzo@therampageonline.com

Entertainment

October 19, 2011

B95 homegrown promotes local talent

By Mia Barraza Rampage Reporter Local radio station B95 airs “Homegrown”, a weekly program which plays music from local hip hop, R&B, and pop artists every Sunday night from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The show got its start in 2004 when Greg Hoffman from the Juice Crew Morning show and DJ John Magic proposed the idea of creating a platform for the talent of the Central Valley to be heard.

DJ Kay Rich, added a new aspect to the show.

“Now it’s actually a mix show so not only are we playing the records, I’m live in the mix,” says Kay Rich.

Anyone can submit music to be played on the show. The station’s only requirements for submissions are a clean, mastered mp3 version of the song, there must instrumentals must be on the mp3 and an

By Nathan A. Alonzo Rampage Reporter

album art by

artist biography. Submitted music can be sent to B95Homegrown@ gmail.com. On the B95 website, http://www.b95forlife.com, listeners can vote for what songs they want to hear on Sunday’s show.

Kay Rich says that the Central Valley talent should think of the Homegrown show as a steppingstone in their musical career and a way to break into the music industry. He says the West Coast radio stations are not playing enough of the music being created at home.

“We’re not playing our music.

We need to really support our own talent,” said Rich.

The Homegrown section gets the most visits on the B95 website. Rich says, “That’s a big accomplishment. That’s due to the Central Valley talent, the artists’ fans, family, and friends.”

FCC student Fernando Mariscal produces his own hip hop beats.

“I don’t just listen to hip hop. I

listen to lots of different genres. I like oldies, 80s music, dubstep. I’ll try to make a dubstep song but in the end it turns into a hip hop beat with dubstep influences.”

Although Mariscal has been a listener of the Homegrown show, it wasn’t until being approached about this article that he was inspired to submit some of his own music.

“There are some horrible songs out there, songs about nothing. I like music that has meaning. There are lots of rappers, or emcee’s, that are hidden under the glamour of mainstream music. They don’t have the money to get exposed so they have to struggle to find ways to be heard,” says Mariscal.

FCC student Leonardo Torres, an emcee, has been rapping and freestyling since he was 14. His cousins exposed him to underground hip hop like Immortal Technique and Jedi Mind Tricks

Swift speaks love

Big Machine Label

Taylor Swift is back at it again, and this time with a touch of teenage love and heartbreak that leaves listeners swooning in anticipation for the next song to play.

In her newest album Swift brings viewers into a world of innocent love and teenage heartbreak once again. The lyrics to many of these songs tell an insightful story, with such detail that it leaves listeners wondering whether the country star is ranting about a personal

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failed love experience.

Some of the hit singles from the album are “Mine”, “Back to December”, “Mean”, “The Story of Us”, and “Sparks Fly”. The song “Mean” debuted at No.3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was a big hit overseas, being awarded the title of certified gold in Australia.

The basic gist as far as the lyrics go is a girl seeing a boy that she likes, but unfortunately the boy is with someone else whom she feels

and Golden Age groups like Dilated Peoples, Living Legends and Wu-tang Clan.

“The music that is getting radio play now is all about letting people know how much you have; 24inch tires, all the girls, money,” Torres says.

Torres explains that with Fresno’s current problems of police brutality, high levels of concentrated poverty, unemployment and the cost of higher education rising dramatically. “Rapping about how much money you can throw around does not reflect the city’s reality,” Torres says.

So why hip hop? Torres, Mariscal, and Kay Rich say the same: self-expression. Torres says it is a way to “express yourself. Exercise your brain. It’s a way to release tension. A way to communicate.”

Emerging in the midst of the 1970s economic recession, hip hop was a subculture that has risen

doesn’t deserve him.

The single “Back to December” is one of the only hits that Swift has ever recorded where she seems to be apologizing to an ex-lover, instead of faulting them like she usually does. In the single Swift seems to be apologizing for a bad break-up and an awkward aftermath, which makes it relatable to many listeners. The single peaked at No.3 in the Billboard Top 100.

In the single “Mean,” Swift is calling out an ex-boyfriend that she apparently is bitter about. The lyrics of the song serve as a show

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to be a permanent fixture of contemporary pop culture. Although seen by many in mainstream white America as a passing fad, its message resonated with the public. It was a voice for the voiceless. Both Leonardo Torres and Fernando Mariscal indicate that there is still a need for the stories of the underground, stories of life in lowincome communities of color. The trend of the current mainstream is focused on the illusive reality of celebrity, fame and fortune.

The Homegrown show invites Central Valley talent to share the work of creating their home and take back the airwaves. Rappers, singers, producers, promoters; here is the chance to tell a true story about yourselves. Here is a chance to support local art and demand the creative, clever, and honest stories about this place and time to be told. Tune in.

The reporter can be reached at mbarraza@therampageonline.com

of how well she is off now, and how all he is is mean. The single peaked at No.11 on the Billboard Top 100 and continues to be on heavy rotation at radio stations around the country.

In this album Swift continues her unique style, a style that is filling up stadiums around the country and making her one of country music’s most popular stars. She may have a country/ pop style that is unique, but fans everywhere continue to love it.

The reporter can be reached at nalonzo@therampageonline.com

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October 19, 2011

Entertainment

5th Realm opens its doors

In 2006 we puked our guts out and ran away screaming when Fright Night took central Clovis by storm. With multiple attractions and a grip of hard working volunteers, Fright Night was a fast success in the years to come.

“Fright Night really cared about its customers,” says third year veteran Kayci Har-

ris, “It pushed the boundaries to bring the best scares.”

“We started keeping score between rooms,” says Colton Mason, a four-year veteran, “of how many people we could get to pee, [evacuate their bowels], throw up, or faint.”

In 2010 things changed for Fright Night, and although many were upset, it may have inadvertently made it even better. “We were supposed to be volunteers,” Rob Bradley, another four year Fright Night/5th Realm veteran told reporters, “so when Amanda sued because she didn’t get her money, we were all confused.”

Fright Night was a haunted hours run by volunteers, but the management tried to ensure that the workers received some kind of monetary compensation, as well as prizes and awards at the end of the year. Amanda Borchansky sued Maggie Curtis, the previous owner of Fright Night because she did not feel she received proper compensation. Many

of the volunteers believed that Amanda did not have a case due to the contract that they all signed stating that they were strictly volunteers, but despite all odds, Amanda won her case and Fright Night along with it.

Amanda decided she didn’t want to keep the haunt, however, and sold it back for

$4,000, but kept the trademark for Fright Night, as well as the names of all of the attractions.

Now, the space is under the management of Brandon Wright, and along with a name change to 5th Realm, each of the attractions has been given a new name, and an overhaul. “Cosmetically

By Laura Bradley and tour wise everything Rampage Reporter has been upgraded,” says Rob Bradley, “It looks better and flows better. I think the haunts are a lot scarier this year, and we’ve added a new haunt. Nocturnal, which used to be called Necropolis has gotten a lot better reviews this year, too.

James even got professional taggers came in and tagged the interior of the building.

It looks amazing.”

Joining Rob, Colton, Kayci 5th Realm opened its doors and Brandon in the new version of the haunted house is on Sept. 23 with tickets James Powell, former stage available online or at the manager of the Pirates of the door.

Caribbean movies, and talent The reporter can be reached at director Rob Lupo who has lbradley@therampageonline.com been in the business for over images by Anchored Web Solutions 16 years.

So while the Fright Night many Fresno and Clovis residents fell in love with is gone, 5th Realm will certainly more than make up for it, it seems.

“When you come to 5 th Realm, watch out for psycho clowns, crazy hillbillies, hungry vampires, and mad doctors,” says Rob Bradley.

Rides at the Fresno Fair Whether it’s the classic ferris wheel or a ride like the Orbiter, fair goers all have great things to say about rides this year at the Big Fresno Fair. Although there is very little change in selection, the Fresno Fair has many exciting rides! And even if you aren’t a ride goer, there are still some that stand out, thanks to the brilliant neon light show the rides give off at night.

The Super Shot Drop Tower: A classic at the

fair for sure. This ride takes you almost 90 feet in the air and then gives the ride goer an accelerated plunge you to the bottom! With 12 passenger capabilities you’ll be able to ride it with all your friends or make some new ones on the ride itself!

The Wave Swinger: A ride that is both tasteful and fun to be on. Combining a traditional swing ride, brilliant artwork, and amazing neon lights; the Wave Slinger is as much fun to ride as it

is to look at. With tons of seating the whole family can ride this one together, right after they finish taking pictures of it.

Footloose: A mechanical marvel that screams fun. This ride uses two gigantic mechanical arms swinging counter clockwise to one another and eventually swinging the passengers upside down!

The Zipper: A thrill for the individual. This ride places people in cages that spin along a track on the ride while the ride itself moves. With great lighting and two people per cage, you and that special somebody can make a great memory while having a ton of fun.

The Ring of Fire: A fun ride that has a lot of Johnny Cash jokes in the papers. This

ride uses a train full of people, and a circular track, to cause massive amounts of awesome.

Taking people to the tippy top, then descending backwards at incredible speeds, The Ring of Fire provides more than a good time for the thrill seeker.

Music Express: An amazingly entertaining ride that answers the question; what would it be like if I could ride music? With great lights, music, and scen- ery this ride takes you in a multitude of directions, while providing the rider with a completely new experi-

By Austin Verburg Rampage Reporter

ence. This new edition to the fair is definitely a crowd pleaser.

The Starship 3000: An amazing scientific experience and a classic ride at the Fresno Fair. The Starship 3000 spins rapidly as centrifugal force pushes the thrill seeker to the walls of the ride and gives them the feeling of weightlessness while feeling the intense gravitational pull.

A must see and definitely a must ride at the Fresno Fair.

The reporter can be reached at averburg@therampageonline.com photo by

Paul Sclesinger

Entertainment

October 19, 2011

local artist concert

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local performer’s press release, bands were able to enter into this competition from throughout the San Joaquin Valley by submitting videos. After a total of 45 videos were sent in, they were posted on the Fresno Fair website where a round of voting from July 18 to July 29 narrowed it down to 25 bands. From August 5 to August 26, the second round of voting determined which six bands would be performing during the

photo by

Brendan Raley

By Austin Verburg Rampage Reporter The Fresno Fair held its second annual Local Performer Showcase on the Pavilion Stage on Oct. 13 from 5 pm to 11 pm. Six bands that were selected by the public performed, which anyone at the fair was able to watch for free.

One of these bands later opened for Uncle Kracker on Oct. 14 at the Paul Paul Theater.

According to the Fresno Fair

Chaz Richardson, bassist for Say Swear

showcase. A third and final round of voting decided which of those bands would open for the concert .

The six local bands that performed, two of which returned from last year’s showcase, were JayTee, Johnny and Vinnie, Travis Miller, No Where Near, HR7, Motel Drive, and Say Swear. HR7 and Say Swear are the returning bands, the latter opening for Uncle Kracker.

The first artists to perform were JayTee, Johnny and Vinnie, a hiphop band. According to Vinnie Cabrera, one of the bands members, the band got together after hearing about each other and deciding to get together in a studio.

“We did a talent show together,” said Cabrera, “That’s our first time performing [as a band]. After that, we just started making a CD.” The songs performed during the showcase were from their CD. Next was Travis Miller. Miller, a solo artist, performed with music ranging from the R&B, Pop and Hip-Hop genres, with a friend providing a beat on the drum. No Where Near performed after with a genre of rock.

Then came HR7, one of the two returning bands. HR7 had performed the year before during the first annual Local Performer Showcase with their rock/funk style. They were both surprised and excited that the public voted them to return another year.

“A lot of people had a lot of good videos and there were plenty of really good bands too,” said drummer Michael Bonner.

Next was Motel Drive who had entered into the competition the year before but didn’t get to perform. Motel Drive likes playing multiple genres, according to lead singer J.D. Goodwin.

Jayson Brooks, front man and singer for Say Swear “We’re fans of music,” said Goodwin. “Basically what we write is stuff we listened to and have grown up on.”

The final performance of the night was the other returning band, Say Swear.

Jayson Brooks, lead vocals of the band, said that “It’s always a surprise to get love from our supporters” who voted for them to play a second year at the fair and the Uncle Kracker opening act, which he said the band was very

photo by brendan raley

Performers Rock the Paul Paul Theater

excited about.

For some of the band members in Say Swear, playing at the Paul Paul Theater has a huge significance.

“The Paul Paul Theater is the first concert that I ever went to. I was like 13 years old,” said Chaz Richardson, the bands base guitarist. “So I finally get to play the venue of my first rock concert.”

The reporter can be reached at averburg@therampageonline.com

Fashionable Winter Wear on a Budget

By Nicole Randazzo Rampage Reporter

Has frivolous summer spending got you clenching onto your pennies this fall? With winter rapidly approaching the time to stock up on warm clothing is here. But what if your budget isn’t ready?

Here are a few budget friendly places you can go to stock up on warmer clothes this year.

Plato’s Closet- Located conveniently across from the Fashion Fair Mall, Plato’s closet is a consignment shop for young women

and men. They not only carry the latest gently used fashions; they also will buy them from you as well. “We pay 30 to 40 percent (per item) of what the clothes will sell for in our store,” explains a store employee. “Also, if you decide to trade your clothes for our clothes we give you the 30 to 40 percent plus 10 percent off your purchase.” Although the store only received two and one half stars on Google reviews, the store contained lots of inexpensive clothes to suit every style.

You can put together an outfit for

under $40. We paired a $7 Obey “Save Haiti” tee, with a pair of American Eagle Skinny Jeans for $10, $4 American eagle orange wedge Mary Janes, and a military blazer—an entire outfit for a total of $31.

Old Navy has been around for ages and according to their store manager the upcoming sales will be just as good as always.

The manager anticipates a sale of up to 50 percent off Old Navy outerwear.

It’s true. You can surely “dress for less” at Ross discount stores.

We found an Energie striped tunic sweater, which could be worn with either a $5 pair of leggings or a $12.99 pair of DKNY jeans, a $24 BCBG Max Azaria motorcycle jacket, and a $9.99 pair of Doll House riding boots.

Target is not just for purchasing household items. They carry name brand converse clothing and much more. The best thing about this store is the clearance racks!

Their $5 Merona brand cropped cardigan would compliment any staple tee, which can be found on clearance for $4.48.

You can’t forget about the constant sales at Forever 21. Right now, a quarter-sleeve leopard print burnout top is $12.64 and perfect for winter. If you put a burnout top underneath one of their hooded fair isle ponchos (on sale for $19.84) and rock it with a pair of cable knit leggings for $8.99 you have a snug winter outfit that your wallet can appreciate.

See, you don’t have to let your wallet reflect your wardrobe!

The reporter can be reached at nrandazzo@therampageonline.com

Americans Will Prefer Obama Over Unknown

By Marcell Dilworth Rampage Reporter

the not interesting conservative media are licking their chops poised to defeat Present Obama next year. lot of people I have come in contact The Republican front runner should with wonder if President Barack Obama have it made because he or she can win will become a one-term president. next election by default being that there President Obama’s hardcore black sup- are only two major political parties, porters are mystified by his presidency, Democratic and Republican. It kind of questioning if the American people are seems like who ever the Republicans going to reject him considering the cur- nominate will more than likely defeat rent condition of our economy.

Obama next election.

We all know that the American people Not so fast! want action, and many of them, at least Don’t count President Obama out yet the president’s opponents see big gov- because he has many advantages. ernment as part of the problem, even His number one advantage is I don’t though that flame is slowly going out as believe that the average American will the media points its cameras toward the easily buy into a Republican Party nomifinancial markets and the growing protest nee who isn’t offering anything different on Wall Street. from what the last Republican president On occasion, I hear interesting chatter offered that didn’t work. about another revolution on the horiIt is not like our economy was riding zon mainly because people are getting on all cylinders when the last Republican frustrated with the with rising prices of president left office … they actually drove consumer products. our economy off the cliff, and the residing Why should we cut President Obama president is playing his part of in fixing some slack and deem him as a part of what was broken when he took office. the solution?

Labeling the same old tired so called The unemployment rate is at an all- solutions that Republican candidates time high and our president can easily and their supporters use as outdated can be considered as part of the problem two make it possible for the President’s team Novembers from now. to force the Republican Party to put forHe even sees himself as the underdog. ward new, or at least, better ideas and stop His polling numbers are down; even marketing those that haven’t worked, at

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least for the current crop of Republican office holders.

In other words, I believe the average voter will prefer to stick with President Obama whom they will have known for four years than vote for the unknown and the unpredictable Republican candidate.

Might I add, Mitt Romney, the Republican front runner in the not exciting Republican primaries can easily be labeled as another one of the Republican machine’s hand picked candidates who will primarily represent the ideals of those who hand picked him, as well as, the last two Republican nominees as the same old Grand Old Party (GOP).

Like I said, it’s not like the Republicans are offering the average voter anything new.

The Democrats should also be building on the fact that the Republican led congress is extremely unpopular. They should be forcing the Republicans supporters and their candidates to distance themselves from that congress who is polling in the low teens.

It’s not like the average American doesn’t see how hard the Republican officials are working to not help the president solve the major issues of today.

President Obama has an easy question to ask the American people, why should we trust that the next Republican candi-

date can solve our economic issues with the same old tired Republican solutions that haven’t worked for the even more unpopular Republican 108 congress that they gave a majority to back in 2010.

“The Republican front runner should have it made because he or she can win next election by default being that there are only two major political parties.”

I personally think that people are too busy working harder to make a buck to pay enough attention to what’s going on in politics, but when they do, the majority will choose to stick with the guy who is working the hardest to fix an economy that the last Republican president seem to have broken.

And one is thing for sure, it didn’t get worse.

The reporter can be reached at MDilworth@therampageonline.com

Views 11 October 19, 2011 Do Horror Films Promote Violence and Stereotypes? reality. Who wants to see Anderson Cooper’s ugly face, when there’s a zombie apocalypse in the making?

If it is not sex they are selling, these movies sell crude humor and stereotypes.

Meaning, the modern day ideal women has become one that is not afraid to take a bite out of man. And when that’s not enough to satisfy our hormones, they give us multiple women tearing each other apart. alloween is upon us. Bring out the We even have modern day classics costumes, the candy, the party invitations, such as the “Scary Movie” series, which and best of all, the horror movies, which have taken horror movies to a whole new we do not get enough of throughout the level. Such movies specialize not only in year. violence, but also in making light of it all.

Let us watch another thrilling episode Maybe the intention of all this is for a little of a maniac doll on a mission to rule the fun on Halloween night, but at what point world. If that’s not enough, let us turn to do we put a limit to it?

Lifetime and follow the adventures of a At what point do we stop laughing at bitter, psychotic woman out to destroy her the abuse of women? When do we realize ex-husband, who is now sleeping with her it’s not just Drew Barrymore receiving sister. Most importantly, we must remem- random phone calls, but rather it’s thouber the golden rule of every horror movie: sands of women actually getting stocked the black man must die first. every day?

It sounds absurd. Yet this is what the And yes, every movie comes with a world has come to. As if creativity is ex- rating, but that’s tinct, Hollywood sells the same nonsense not enough to over and over again. And sadly, it works. stop so many We have become a society hooked on children who blood, suspense, and violence. I mean are exposed to hooked like the slaughtered kids from these graphic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” on images on a daimeet hooks. ly basis. I know The critics call this type of display, because I was “sensational, absolutely brilliant, influen- only 11 years old tial.” And maybe these movies are influ- when I watched ential, but it’s hard to believe it’s positive. “Scary Movie” The movies that appeal to real emotions, f o r t h e f i r s t the movies that give us a different time. Though I perspective of life, and even the movies was told not to that we can laugh with are slowly, but watch it, I was surely, walking out the door. Like there able to get a are no more lessons to learn, we bow to glance here and Hollywood and let ourselves rot. there when my It is as if Mama was wrong when older cousins watched it. she said there is a place and time for As I found out, all it takes is one little everything; it is as if there is no more time glance of promiscuity to ignite a child’s or place for reality. curiosity. All it takes is one little glance Maybe these movies are the reason we of a chopped head walking on its own can watch starving children in Somalia to spark a child’s imagination. And if and do absolutely nothing. After all, we the adult can hardly tell the difference see men walking amongst the dead every between fantasy and reality, how should day, so what›s a starving child with no the child know? shoes, no food clothe, no home?

Or maybe these movies are the reason The reporter can be reached at few people know what’s happening with TKassahun@therampageonline.com

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Preventing Bike Theft At FCC

By David Thammavonga Rampage Reporter

F

resno City College students are concerned about an increase bike theft around campus. As a cyclist on the FCC campus, I went out to gather the information and share some insights about this predicament.

Because I’ve had bikes stolen before, I asked SCCCD Police Department Chief Joseph Callahan to shed some lights on this issue. What we know is that since January 2011, 105 bikes have been reported stolen on campus. That means a bike is stolen every 2.8 days. These crimes take place throughout the day, all over campus, from early morning to the late evenings. Even with stake-outs and surveillance, Chief Callahan acknowledges it’s hard to cover the 99 acres of the college.

The police department has been able to identify a group of people stealing bikes. The bike thieves are known to be Meth-users who live north of the Health Science buildings. They are banned from campus. However, this ban is difficult to enforce due to the open campus policy.

While some of these people are known and can be identified, others are not which doesn’t make FCC students feel secure about risking their bikes on a rack. It’s nice to know though who some of the criminals are.

With little resources and bicycles without registration or recorded serial numbers, it’s very difficult to recover a stolen bike. With recovery almost impossible, the best scenario is to not get the bike stolen in the first place. The Internet has a plethora of information regarding the prevention of stolen bikes. There are the stories about the embarrassment and shame of getting a bike stolen. But, this article teaches how to ensure that you’ll never get a bike stolen ever again.

One of the easiest, cheapest and most obvious ways to prevent theft is to get a better lock. For the same price as a cable-lock, you can get a cheap U-lock. Why? Because they’re harder to break through. Thieves would break locks that are easier, yes? Make it harder.

Another obvious thing to do is to get another lock. Two is better than one! Many people get their wheels stolen, so why not get a lock just for that? It’s not logical to think that one bike only needs one lock. It’s logical to keep your bike as safe as possible! If you care about your bike, it shows. To a thief, more locks probably means you have your bike registered too, so why would a thief risk it? If your bike looks like you don’t care about it, then a thief would probably think that you wouldn’t care if it’s stolen?

The best thing to do is to prepare for the worst and prevent the most skilled thieves. Get a U-

By Jesse Franz Rampage Reporter s fall begins to take shape, and Halloween peaks its head around the corner, we prepare ourselves for one of the best that the two have to offer: Horror movie season.

For the next two glorious weeks of television Michael Myers will pop out of nowhere, Freddy will run rampant, and Jason… well Jason will walk slowly until someone trips and/or falls. As children stuff pillow cases full of candy, which will surely be eaten in a single night, we shall celebrate Halloween with the horror classics. After all, most of those, soon to be diabetic, children probably wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for a horror movie date not so long ago.

Nevertheless, for all the good that horror films do for entertainment and even occasionally procreation, there are naysayers who believe that they are too violent, distracting, and disturbing to be seen as a valued asset in our society. However, a closer look at the situation proves otherwise.

Surely horror films are no less destructive to the human psyche than Hannah Montana’s half-English ramblings in support of the latest consumer product for third graders, Justin Beiber ’s monetarily driven attempts to become a sex symbol to eight year olds, or whatever Brittney Spears is doing this week.

However, no one will put legislation on the table to censor celebrities, but somehow they justify seeing horror films as a lesser art, and therefore subject to legislative scrutiny.

Horror films give us more than E-news does though; they give us emotion. In a world dominated by repetitious chick-flicks, with a plot line consisting of nothing more than will they, won’t they, aww they did, horror gives us more; it gives us uncertainty.

The uncertainty of not knowing whether the main character will live happily ever after, or end their life’s script with the movie’s credits. The uncertainty of not knowing what’s waiting around the next corner or what really is going bump in the night. And

Con

A

lock, get another U-lock, and register your bike with the Free National Bike Registry.

Since 1984, the National Bike Registry (NBR) has been helping identify and return stolen bikes (and scooters) to their rightful owners. More than 48 percent of stolen bicycles are recovered every year by law enforcement, but only 5 percent are returned since they have no way to determine ownership. When a bicycle is labeled and registered in the NBR database, it can be easily identified by police and returned to its rightful owner. The NBR computer database is dedicated exclusively to bicycle registrations and is available FREE to law enforcement nationwide according to the NBR website.

There are too many students who get their bikes stolen. We need bikes to get to school, and for some people, it’s their first form of transportation. Bikes are not cheap for those who could barely afford the one they have. We ride bikes because we can’t afford a car to begin with. It’s possible to dramatically reduce the theft that occurs on campus and the frustration of those who get them stolen. Don’t become a victim; you have the right to your property and the right to choose how you get around.

Top: A thin cable-lock attached to the front wheel is easy for cable cutters.

Middle:A U-lock deters most theives, incorporating the front, frame and rack.

Bottom: The most secure approach to theft: wheels are secured by cable while the frame is secured by a U-lock.

through this uncertainty it brings out certain truth, in that it shows us exactly what we are.

It puts our insecurities, our fears on center stage and gives them a microphone, like no other medium of art.

There will always be “morally esteemed” congressmen trying to take art away, but one of our duties as people of our society is to stand up for what we believe; to fight for the rights of freedom of speech guaranteed to us in the first amendment. After all, the congressmen who seeks to ban movies for their “obscene violence and gruesomeness”, has probably voted to send hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters off to fight wars more obscenely violent and gruesome than anything that can be played on a screen.

Violence is something to be despised, but to blame horror movies for it while America is currently involved in the longest war in its quarter-millennium history seems a bit absurd. Now it goes without saying that there are films that have made money off of violence in morally questionable ways, however they do not only belong to horror. If you want to blame horror films for violence then you have to blame Rocky, just as you blame Freddy Kruger. You have to blame James Bond, as you blame Hannibal Lecter. You have to blame the Terminator in the same voice that you blame Jigsaw. That’s even leaving out America’s most celebrated past time of repetitive weekly violence, football.

All arguments made boil down to the same principle: Freedom of expression is irrefutable and inalienable. Just because one thinks that something is not reputable does not make it redactable.

The reporter can be reached at JFranz@therampageonline.com The reporter can be reached at DThammavongsa@therampageonline.com

Photos by David Thammavongsa

By Tomas Kassahun Rampage Reporter

Illustration by Austin Verburg

Pro

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October 19, 2011

Views

We Lost Our Jobs

By Alexis Abrahamson Rampage Reporter

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“ pple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an exceptionally amazing human being. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built and his spirit will forever be the foundations of Apple.” –Apple Inc. We all remember Steve Jobs in his trademark black sweater, faded blue jeans and sneakers.

His casual attire represented his personality and his humble beginnings in the basement of his parents› house during the 1970s.

Jobs’ perseverance and optimistic genius mirrors the continuity and fortitude that Apple’s legacy still provides in the hands of millions every day. His vision was one of united knowledge and enjoyment of technology for all. The Ipod transported us into a new frontier of user-friendly technology.

For the first time, we had the world of music at our fingertips.

Pushing forward, Jobs had the consumer’s best interest at heart.

He molded technology into an international icon, giving style to the Apple Inc. Throughout the decades, he brought creativity to Pixar and efficiency to NeXT Computers.

He was never one to be deterred by the challenge of the impossible.

He lived life with the philosophy that we all are going to die someday so what do we have to lose?

Jobs emphasized this statement during his speech at Stanford. Jobs spoke of three stories. The first was about connecting the dots. Jobs dropped out of Reed College in Oregon and spent his time attending classes that truly interested him, one of which was typography.

He spent nights on friend’s floors and recycled bottles for money. He loved it, and those were his humble beginnings. If he had never dropped out, he would have never sat in on the typography class and personal computers would never be what they are today. Jobs said that, “You cannot

The D-Pad:

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By Austin Verburg Rampage Reporter

connect the dots looking forward, but you can connect the dots looking backward. You have to trust that the dots will connect in your future; you have to trust in something. Believing that the dots will connect down the road and lead you off the well-worn path and that will make all of the difference.”

When it came to business, his model for business was The Beatles. “There were four guys that kept each others negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.

Jobs was a demanding perfectionist who always aspired to position his businesses and products at the forefront of the information technology industry by foreseeing and setting trends.

In 1985, Jobs was fired from Apple and within the same year founded “NeXT Computer”. The following year he bought The Graphics Group later called “Pixar”. In 1996 Apple bought “NeXT Computer” bringing Jobs back to the company he founded. But

while he was away from Apple, he met his loving wife.

Once he was assimilated back into Apple nothing could have been better for both companies.

Jobs regained his CEO position and continued to create and expand on the ideas Apple Inc had.

Whether you are a Windows user or a Mac, Jobs has curved the way we view a cell phone and personal style for electronics. Many may say that he just “dumbed down computers for all” but what he really did was make the computer more enjoyable and easy to use for people that aren’t web geniuses. Before apple, the best phone on the market was the “Razor” flip phone that carried internet. Now almost everyone has a touch screen, and endless music at their disposal. If phone companies don’t carry Iphones, they have been creating their own versions to sell.

Not only did he help change the way we communicate, he created “Pixar” which has made some of the best-animated movies of our

time. With movies such as “Toy Story,” “Up” and “Cars,” Pixar has already made its permanent mark in the movie industry. How many single persons can create this many changes in our everyday entertainment in less than 56 years? Not many, but Steve Jobs was able to do so in our generation.

“No one wants to die. Death is the destination we all share. Death is life’s single best invention, its life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make room for the new.

Your time is limited so don’t waist it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped in Dogma, the results of other peoples thinking. Don’t let the noise of other people’s opinions drown out your inner voice.

Most importantly have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become, and everything else is secondary. Stay hungry, stay foolish.” – Steve Jobs 1955-2011 R.I.P.

The reporter can be reached at AAbrahamson@therampageonline.com

Is There A Link Between Video Games and Violence?

irtual violence and video games go hand in hand. While not all video games feature any form of violence, it’s hard to ignore the fact that top games like “Call of Duty”, “Mass Effect”, and “Gears of War’s” central game play revolves around shooting an enemy as they shoot at you, and in addition to the case of Gears of War, jam a chainsaw through their body. As gruesome as that sounds, it’s understandable that our society loves to play the blame game that video games would take the heat

the ESRB is. The acronym stands for Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Their job is simply to set up a rating system based on age and make sure games fall into the age ratings based on their content.

It’s the same thing as the rating system for movies. Their job is to place a warning on the game’s cover before it gets distributed.

After that, if a game that’s too inappropriate for a minor ends up in his or her hands, it’s the fault of the retailer or parent for allowing it. The ESRB isn’t going to stalk our children and make sure they don’t buy games they aren’t old enough for.

“Well games still make kids

“The gaming industry is not going anywhere nor will they change what they’re doing based on the opinions of a minority that pins unsupportable blame on their products.”

for causing any type of violence.

But I can say without a doubt that this is not true. Our society always blames any new medium for current problems. When comic books were new, a man known as Frederick Wertham attempted to blame them for violence. Same thing happened with rock music.

I do not believe video games are any more responsible for crime rate than any of these other media.

And I can back that up and answer most questions people have about this issue. Starting with these: “Why doesn’t the ESRB do a better job of keeping violent games out of the hands of children?” Well let me explain what

act out what they see in them.

How do you explain that?” Children live in a monkey see-monkey do mind set (sorry to any parents for comparing your children with monkeys). A little kid will repeat a bad word if they hear their parent say it by accident, or want to repeat something cool but dangerous they saw on TV. I did my fair share of stupid decisions based on what I saw but I never did anything outrageous and harmful to myself or others because my parents made sure I knew better.

Parents should be aware of what their kids are playing and know the rating system set by the ESRB, just as they would forbid a televi-

sion show or movie. I’m sorry if this offends, but developers are going to appeal to their fan base that is mature enough to not act out what is in the game, not to the parents who are using their PS3 as a babysitter.

“What about all the studies showing video games do cause violent tendencies?” You will find that there are an even amount of studies that say they don’t. It’s a difficult conclusion for anyone to come to, but people who are against video games will always favor the studies that side with them, and make sure those studies are seen more than the ones that counter them. Also, according to multiple articles on Cracked.com, video games have actually contributed to many positive changes in the human psych.

“How do you know that the content of those games aren’t corrupting the minds of gamers, young and old?” Based on multiple video game related acts of violence reported in the news, I believe content has nothing to do with it. First I’ll bring up Daniel Petric. Daniel Petric was a 17-year-old gamer who shot his parents, killing his mother and fatally wounding his father, after they forbad him from playing Halo 3. According to an article on this topic on cleveland.com, Petric had an accident that forced him to stay home for a year. During this time he developed an obsession with “Halo 3”. When his parents who were against the game banned him from playing it, Daniel acted out violently.

Now that seems to be countering my point but get this. According to an article on the Huffington Post,

“Developers are going to appeal to their fan base that is mature enough to not act out what is in the game, not to the parents who are using their PS3 as a babysitter.”

one Alexandra Tobias shook her three-month-old baby to death when the infant interrupted her game of “Farmville”. What do “Halo 3”, a game about fighting aliens, and “Farmville”, a game about raising your own virtual farm, have in common? Content wise, nothing. One is violent, one is cute. And yet both are to blame for events that harmed and killed. If you ask me, I say the culprit here is addiction. Both Petric and Tobias developed an addiction to these games and acted out violently, as anyone heavily addicted to something might.

If that’s not enough to convince you that it isn’t the violent content of these games making people do stupid harmful things, then in the same Huffington Post article there is mention of a Korean couple that let their own child starve to death while they raised a virtual baby.

Also, according to a study by the FBI’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, violence amongst minors has steadily decreased since the early ‘90s, in which violence in video games began to increase.

“Well your just a dumb gamer whose addicted to killing stuff and is going to act out these violent tendencies at any moment!”

No, I am a 19-year-old college student who is addicted to tacos

and puts school and work first, and uses spare time in between to enjoy an industry that entertains me more than music or movies. I have been a gamer since I was 4 years old when my older brother got a Super Nintendo. Since then I’ve played just about every violent video game there is. I have not yet acted out any violent tendency nor will I ever because there are no violent tendencies to act out.

If there is one thing I know about myself, it’s that I am anything but a violent person.

Even if I have not convinced anyone who still opposes video games and blames them for these problems, just know that the industry is not going to slow down. There are hundreds of thousands of active gamers, many of which are good hardworking people raising families and making a living. So to the dwindling number of nay-sayers, Tim Buckley, author of video game webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del said it best. “We outnumber you, and everyone who thinks like you.” In other words, the gaming industry is not going anywhere nor will they change what they’re doing based on the opinions of a minority that pins unsupportable blame on their products.

The reporter can be reached at AVerburg@therampageonline.com

Views

October 19, 2011

Campus Voices

By Kaitlin Regan Rampage Reporter

13

Photos By David Thammavonga Rampage Reporter

What is Your Favorite Horror Movie and Why? Rhomel Nikko Gallanosa, Psychology

Brenda Ramirez, Medical Billing “I would have to say Halloween with Michael Myers, because it is more interesting and it draws my attention.”

“I like the Exorcist because it’s old but it’s one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. It terrified me; I couldn’t go to sleep.”

Taylor Rasso, Education “My favorite horror movie is Insidious because it is like an everyday battle with the spiritual terms of where you’re at with the Lord and the world.”

“My favorite is Queen of the Damned because I love Aaliyah. I like the music and I enjoy that the actors are good looking.”

Kason Young, Undecided “I don’t have a favorite because they don’t scare me, but if anything, I would go with the movies involving the paranormal. It’s not the movie itself that scares you, it’s everything after the movie.”

“Final Destination, because it has a lot of action.”

Raymond Higareda, Criminology “The Ring because I’m always up late watching TV and I end up falling asleep. When I wake up, I’m afraid that I’m going to see the blurry screen.”

James Ramirez, Social Services “The Amityville Horror because of the documentation behind it. It is just interesting.”

Maurisha Hall, Business “I like Scream because it’s funny. People are dying, and it’ll all be funny. I also think that there is good acting from Courtney Cox and David Arquette.”

Hannah Yanni, Psychology

Tippy Phonesy, Criminology “Forget Me Not because once the killing starts, it’s like you’re playing hide and seek with a ghost.”

Montrel Outly, Science

Jesus Vega, Business “Paranormal Activity 2 because it turned out to be more of a suspense movie for me.”

Michael King Music “It’s a tie between The Shinning and Eraserhead because of two of my favorite directors. Stanley Cooper and David Lynch invoke emotions so well.”

The reporter can be reached at KRegan@therampageonline.com

Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is Just

n American soldier once told his family that he would die for his country and those who lived in it, but what this American soldier did not know was that he would die on foreign soil with a secret he could not bear to share with his family; the secret of loving another man.

He will never know the feeling of embracing his loved one on their wedding because it was deemed illegal, wrong, and perverted. He will never have the chance to watch his own normal, American family grow before his eyes. He will never know that he fought for freedoms for those who hated him for his own sexuality, and would only regret that he ever lived in the first place.

Although the story above was fictionally written, this is not to say that this did not happen.

On Sept. 20 2011, the 17 year long battle of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was finally over, and the service members everywhere

in the American armed forces would finally get to live as equals with those who fought along side them.

happened to fall in love with the same gender.

While these brave soldiers are fighting across seas, Americans are waging their own war at

14,000 service members were discharged before the repeal took place, not for the lack of a limb, or the lack of sanity, but because these service members

home; a war on love, equality, and true freedom.

Many see the repeal as a great leap in the right direction for equality amongst the lesbian,

Illustration by Austin Verburg

A

By Dylan Domingos Rampage Reporter

gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Others have spoke against it.

Richard Phillips, an openly gay member of the American Military, posted a video on YouTube of himself coming out to his parents. One comment, left by a member, known as GrandInquisitor7, said, “If he was my child I would have disowned him!

He is a perverted reprobate!

It is our duty to Almighty God to pray away the gay; just for starters, if necessary we should take stronger action! His mother should have told him either to choose the rectum or choose his family! Either choose heaven with the elect and the Lord. You can tell his mother doesn’t accept it and knows it is wrong, but shame on her for not putting the fear of God in Him! Amen!”

The Center of Military Readiness said, “This is not a legitimate victory for anyone; it is being imposed on the armed forces

to deliver on President Barack Obama’s political promises to LGBT (lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender) activist groups.

The high-powered campaign for gays in the military was fueled by sophistry, administrationcoordinated deception, faux “research” from LGBT activist, and misuse of the military’s own culture of obedience.”

While others see the negative side of the repeal, many sources such as Gallup.com, TheHill.com, and many more say that around 68 to 70 percent of Americans agree on the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell.

So when you see a solider, whether they are female or male, straight or gay, black or white, religious or not, I hope you find yourself in the greater percentage of those who agreed with this repeal, and I encourage you thank those who have fought for your freedoms, and have given you the ability to call yourself American.

The reporter can be reached at DDomingos@therampageonline.com

Sports

October 19, 2011

14

FCC RAMS DOMINATE MODESTO PIRATES

on the board in the waning minutes of the game. They “We put our heart into this game. We didn’t want to lose; worked the ball we didn’t want to give up without a fight..”

85 yards in four RONALD THOMPSON plays, and it ended when the PiWIDE RECVER rates quarterback, Quinton McCown for good with a 51 yard touch- mistakes than Fresno City did connected with wide receiver Ronye Ellington down catch from Ronald Thomp- and that was indicated by the score .We turned the ball over for a nine yard touchdown pass. son.

“We put our heart into this more and had more penalties; But the Rams closed the door game,” said Thompson, we they didn’t turn the ball over and didn’t want to lose; we didn’t had fewer penalties and there it want to give up without a fight.” is there.”

Caviglia was proud of his This time Coach Caviglia team, but he still thought his made sure his players were in team “made it harder” for them- the middle of the field to shake selves in the first half as they hands. missed two field goals and left Modesto’s players however, points on the field. stood on their sideline watch“I am really proud of how ing their coach shake hands these guys competed and how with Cavaglia. Head coach Sam they adjusted to the way Modesto Young then gestured for his team was playing,” said Caviglia. to come to the middle of the field.

Sam Young, head coach of The reporter can be reached at the Pirates said, “We made more mdilworth@therampageonline.com

Game Schedule

Oct. 19

Marcell Dilworth

The undefeated Fresno City College Rams blew past Modesto Junior College 34-17 in a game where the Pirates were hoping to pay the Rams back from last season’s wild and crazy victory.

With a 5-1 record, Modesto was fighting to take the first place position in the division away from the Rams.

They also had a chip on their shoulders due to last season’s game in which the Rams’ players ran off the field without doing the traditional shaking of hands.

In Saturday’s match up, Modesto scored first when running back Markus Sanders ran the ball into the end zone from one yard out The Rams offense responded when quarterback Lance Orender hit wide receiver Leroy Travis with a nine yard pass to tie the game at the 6:02 mark of the first quarter.

Orender threw for five touchdowns in the game while Tavis caught 10 passes for 138 yards and one touchdown pass.

The Rams went into the halftime up 14 to 10, and aggressively clamped down on the Pirates with their physical and swarming defense. Their offense also found its rhyme by putting 20 more points on the board.

With 9:18 left in the third quarter, quarterback Orender connected with wide receiver Trent Hicks from six yards out and the Rams went up 20 to 10.

Both teams aggressively fought it out for the rest of the

third quarter, and neither put any points on the board after the Rams scored at the 9:18 mark.

The Rams went up 27 to 10 in the fourth quarter when they worked the ball down the field in nine plays. The drive ended when Orender hit wide receiver Ronald Thompson on a four yard touchdown pass.

With the game out of hand, The Modesto Pirates still played hard and put up the final points

photo by

By Marcel Dilworth Rampage Reporter

TE George Marcias runs down the field after catching a pass.

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Accreditation

October 19, 2011

15

What Is Accreditation?

By Kaitlin Regan Rampage Reporter

the self-evaluations.

“Planning is one of them.

The other is curriculum, making sure that you’re reviewing your curriculum on a regular basis. Also, program reviews are important.

It’s not just degree programs but it is institution wide,” said Cantu. “Program review is what gives a department or program the opportunity to look at itself.

standards of the district bylaws.

Furthermore, the ACCJC offers a series of open forum meetings in which students, faculty and staff may bring up issues that they feel need attention.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 18, a broad range of issues were presented to the accreditation team for assessment. They included issues pertaining to the Disabled

“The open forums are a very important part of accreditation visits. They are an opportunity to make sure that the folks who may not be participating in some of the formal committees written up in the report have an opportunity to speak their minds,” said Garcia.

The comments heard at the forums are heard but not necessarily taken in real time. The team

Photo By Paul Schlesinger

Accreditation is a crucial process that Fresno City College is currently completing and it determines the future of the college. With the process being an in depth and detailed account on the college’s programs, accreditation becomes a system of checks and balances.

With this system in mind, the question of why it is necessary appears. Accreditation is necessary for any academic institution to be valid and to have their degrees or certificates of completion recognized by other institutions across the board.

Along with the self-evaluation of its programs, the school is paid a visit from an accreditation team of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

As the accreditation team reviews the reports provided by the college, they compare them to the standards established by the ACCJC for valid educational credentials.

“The way it works is, the college The accreditation team addressed students and faculty and listened to their concerns during an will be visited next week. The team Open Forum yesterday in the community room of the Old Administration Building. reviews everything we’ve submitted, all of the evidence that we What is working well and what Students Program and Services, listens to the comments and notes have. They do it through a series needs to be changed? The other issues involving the surplus of the ones that may be applicable to of interviews validating what we is student learning outcomes. It’s funds in the district and even is- the standards by which the college say in our self-study. Then, they making sure that all of our courses sues pertaining to library security is being measured. Garcia offered more on how the comments heard measure us against the standards”, have student learning outcomes were heard. and they are being assessed on a The chair of the 2011 accreditaat the meeting will be taken into said FCC President Tony Cantu. regular basis along with making tion team of the Western Associaconsideration.

With any assessment, there can sure that we use that information.” tion of Schools and Colleges, Peter “The large majority of the team be certain issues that arise and Once the college completes its Garcia, maintains that the open members were at this meeting. make the process more difficult self-study the ACCJC team asforums are an important part of We’ll talk about any of the comor tedious. FCC itself has four key sesses it and measures them to the the process. ments applicable to the standards focuses that are at the forefront of

or the report as a whole and we will ask if any of them need to be pursued or if whether they are matters that fall out of the peripheral view of accreditation,” said Garcia.

True to the idea behind the meetings, many were given the chance to bring their issues to the attention of the team. Mischelle Liscano, an attendee of the forum and a chair of the Tort Appeals Board feels that the forums are a start in the direction of helping the students.

“It’s the start of understanding what Fresno is about. I think we’ve gone on the whim of worrying about money when we need to worry about servicing the students.

We serve the students no matter what,” Liscano said.

Liscano feels that the community should come together to resolve the issues brought to the attention of the team and that no one person should have more power than the other.

“They should be addressed. We won’t know until afterwards, of course. However, this gives ample opportunity for all staff regardless of what level they are. It should be an even line for everybody,” Liscano said.

The final steps of the accreditation process include the revealing the of college’s score or standing in an open forum within the coming days. President Cantu believes the date of the assessment findings to be Thursday, Oct. 20.

The reporter can be reached at KRegan@therampageonline.com

FCC Accreditation By the numbers

w

54.5 :

76 :

309 :

Hours per week the library is open

Computer stations in the Academic Computer Lab

Full-time faculty numbers

11,000 :

: $881,000 :

photo by

Paul Schlesinger

123,764

Peter Garcia is the chair of the 2011 FCC Accreditation Team and is the president of Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Calif.

Students who accessed the Academic Computer Lab

Books, e-books, and bound periodical volumes in the library.

Spent since 2006 to aquire new library material

October 19, 2011

16

Accreditation

Students Unaware of Accreditation

A) Something you need to be approved for a credit card.

B) The list of actors at the end of a movie.

C) Another name for a shell fish.

D) A background check performed before adopting a child.

E) None of the above A majority of Fresno City students reacted with a blank

stare when asked about accreditation.

80 out of 100 students interviewed didn’t even know what accreditation means. A staggering 7 out of 100 student knew that Fresno City College was currently going through

accreditation.

Emily Samulka, a sophomore majoring in Liberal Arts, says she knows about the ongoing accreditation activity and that she remembers the college’s warning in 2006 “I remember being in high school and hearing about from older, former classmates about FCC’s accreditation issues,” Samulka said. “If I hadn’t known anyone

going to FCC during the time of the last accreditation, I wouldn’t know anything about it.”

“The goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education [such as FCC] meets acceptable levels of quality,” according to information on the U.S Department of Education website.

Fresno City has been preparing with its self study since August 2009 and must first assess how it measures against the four To recognize (an institution of learning) as maintaining those standards, used by the accreditation standards requisite for its graduates to gain admission to other team to determine reputable institutions of higher learning or to achieve institutional effeccredentials for professional practice. tiveness.

The standards include Institutional Mission and school, students, staff and faculty, well as the Library and Media Effectiveness; Student Learning yet why do we know nothing about Resources.

Programs and Services; Resources it? During the last accreditation Expressing high hopes and full and Leadership and Governance. FCC received its lowest scores confidence, student trustee, Chris Accreditation affects the entire lowest on Student Services as Coronado, said he has high hopes

Photo By Paul Schlesinger

By Maddie Hagobian Rampage Reporter What is accreditation?

Ac-cred-i-ta-tion: (noun)

for the accreditation review. On whether the college had a better chance than it did in 2005, Coronado was definite.

“I’ve learned what issues were brought up (during the last accreditation), more specifically being put on warning for participatory governance, something that we have improved on remarkably since 2005,” he said. “Students are now able to attend all of these committee [meetings] that ASG is a part of, and it’s open publicly, so that they can voice their concerns; that is something the district and the campus has improved on a lot.”

Another area Fresno City College got a low score on during the 2005 accreditation is on library resources and media center.

The library has improved on the number of encyclopedias and periodicals as well as in its online data bases, in response to the last accreditation.

However, Trustee Coronado said he is not as optimistic about the college meeting the accreditation standard. “Unfortunately I don’t think we have improved on the aspect of providing actual service (in the library) to the students,” he said. “I can say that because we have cut the hours of the library; unfortunately that’s a function of budget.”

The reporter can be reached at MHagovian@therampageonline.com

Leaders Confident of Success Blue and Cantu say college is Poised to Pass Accreditation

By Tomas Kassahun Rampage Reporter Times are tough. Students are up against rising tuition costs. Administrators have come and gone. The State Center Community College District is in the midst a daunting budget crisis.

With all these issues and more looming, Fresno City College is undergoing its first accreditation review since 2005.

Despite the challenges however, the confidence within the district has not been shaken.

“While we are challenged by a really difficult fiscal situation, our district is among those districts that are in the best shape because we have managed to maintain a good general fund balance,” said Deborah Blue, chancellor of the State Center Community College District. “As long as we don›t start spending that reserve, we have the ability to get through the difficult period.”

Interim president, Tony Cantu said the district has handled the budget crisis well so far. “We are always looking at what we do to see where we can save and redirect resources, but in general, we are doing okay,” said Cantu. “There have been no layoffs. We are still offering quite a few classes.”

What is not certain is how the difficult fiscal situation could impact FCC’s accreditation review.

In the 2006 accreditation report, FCC was found to not be in compliance in the area of its government structure and planning.

Chancellor Blue said that the college has done a lot of work with its government structure and its planning processes, so that should no longer be an issue.

“The college has resolved all the recommendations from 2005. It has been reported in a self-study report how those recommendations were resolved,” said Blue. ”Now the team will come and they will make an assessment and give their own opinion on whether or not they believe the recommendations have been resolved.”

Cantu agrees that the college has made much progress since the last accreditation. “We are a better institution since our last accreditation, especially in terms of our processes,” said Cantu.

But while he is satisfied with the progress, Cantu says he is still

focused on how to make things better. “Part of the things we have to address is our integrated planning process, making sure that all the components are there, and all the components work. And the integrated planning process includes the programs here, and the allocation of all resources,” said Cantu.

In a recent meeting of the board

offer,” Blue said. “That’s not something that’s dictated by accreditation.”

As for students’ complaints about difficulty meeting with counselors, Blue said she believes this may or may not be an issue with accreditation, but added that the counselors are trying to do the best they can with limited staff members.

“We are a better institution since our last accreditation, especially in terms of our processes.”

-FCC President, Tony Cantu of trustees, students expressed concerns about the cutting of classes and difficulty meeting with counselors.

Blue does not think that reduction in class offering would impact the college’s accreditation review.

“I can’t imagine that would be an issue because we have to make those determinations ourselves based on what we can afford to

According to Blue, counselors are faculty members, but they are not included in what is known as the 50 percent law, which mandates 50 percent of the district’s funds go towards instruction. Since counselors are not included in the 50 percent, the district is limited to what it can do when it comes to counselors.

Another concern that students

have is the cost of textbooks. A year ago, a program review of the bookstore addressed the concern.

“We are going to be looking more closely into the finances of the bookstore and evaluate what alternative options we have to provide services that are keeping current with the industry,” said Blue.

“The industry is going to E-books and renting textbooks; we want to make assessments of how we can make sure that our bookstores are moving in the direction that the rest of the industry is going.”

Cantu also said he believes students play a vital role in helping the college do well in its accreditation.

“We have been very fortunate.

We always had very high student involvement on campus. They participate in the committees and they bring up concerns of students,” said Cantu. “Like everybody else, they are part of the institution.”

Leniah Lewis is in her first semester at FCC, but is already aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the college. Like most students, Lewis is concerned about parking space but she is also thrilled to have many wonderful professors.

The reporter can be reached at TKassahun@therampageonline.com