RAMPAGE
THE AWARD-WINNING, STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER PROUDLY SERVING FRESNO CITY COLLEGE AND ITS COMMUNITY SINCE 1949.
Volume CXXIV Issue 3
STUDENTS STRIKE BALANCE BETWEEN MILITARY AND COLLEGE LIFE BY KEVYNN GOMEZ
kgomez@therampageonline.com
Transfer process made easier
FEBRUARY 27, 2013
Many on Fresno City College Campus juggle military life and college. FCC is home to many students juggling military service and college classes simultaneously. Those students are obligated to meet their responsibilities to the U.S. Armed Forces and complete their college assignments at the same time. Like other students, they must worry
about earning good grades and completing their programs of study. Veteran Tobias Johnston enrolled at FCC this semester after seven months of deployment as an infantry Marine in Afghanistan. He was as a Special Operations Reconnaissance Marine and returned in June 2012. His experiences in Afghanistan stand in stark contrast to his life as a civilian college student. But Johnston says being at FCC
is helping him to gain knowledge in areas outside of his skills in weapons, tactics and special operations. “It was a good experience. Getting good grades is easier -- way easier -- because I’m actually focused on what I’m here for,” Johnston said. “However, the work is a little bit harder just because it has been so long since I’ve been out of school.” He is majoring in chemistry and l SEE MILITARY ON PAGE 2
BY KAITLIN REGAN
kregan@therampageonline.com
Do you know that a new transfer program allows you easier and faster access to California State Universities? Yes, the SB 1440, also known as the Transfer Achievement Reform Act, which has been in effect since 20112012 school year, expedites transfer from a community college to a CSU. The bill, written by Sen. Alex Padilla was approved on Sept.29, 2010 and is now being implemented throughout the 112 community colleges across California. The bill requires that students who have earned a transfer degree will have guaranteed admission to a CSU. However, that admission is not guaranteed for any particular campus. The admission is contingent upon certain criteria, including the degree being similar to one offered at the admitting institution. According to the SB 1440 legislation, students will not be guaranteed “for specific majors or campuses, but would require the California State University to grant a student priority admission to his or her local California State University Campus and to a program or major that is similar to his or her community college major or area of emphasis, as determined by the California State University campus to which the student is admitted.” While streamlining the transfer process for students, the program is aimed at saving time and money. It decreases the number of courses that a student takes for a given major and is designed to grant a student who has completed only 120 college units a bachelor’s degree. The student earns 60 units in a community college and 60 in a CSU. “The program now has 22 AA-T and AS-T pathways approved, with anthropology and computer science pathways joining the list last week. More degrees will be added each term with Spanish and philosophy expected to be approved within the week. Engineering, biology, chemistry and sociology are scheduled to be approved soon,” said Erik Skinner, Deputy Chancellor for California Community Colleges during a press conference on Wednesday With more degrees being approved in the coming weeks, students will have better access to the transfer programs in their community colleges. Skinner said that the aim of this program is to have transfer degrees l SEE CSU ON PAGE 4
Photos Illustration by Kevynn Gomez, Michael Monroy and Karen West. After five years as an infantry Marine, Sgt. Tobias Johnston enrolled at Fresno City College to pursue a degree in chemistry.
Drug use impacts academic achievement BY TOMAS KASSAHUN
tkassahun@therampageonline.com
Jim Kirby grew up in a large Irish Catholic family, where alcoholism was the norm. While he didn’t have any personal experience with alcohol abuse, he saw many loved ones struggle with the issue. Today, Kirby is teaching Alcohol and Drug Counseling classes at Fresno City College. With more than 30 years of experience in the profession of Alcohol and Drug Counseling, Kirby has much to offer to his students. In addition to lecturing, he leaves his door open for students who may want to talk about either their own or a loved one’s struggle with drugs and alcohol. Kirby defines alcohol and drug abuse in terms of use, abuse and addiction. Use is when people use it but
not have problems with it. Abuse is when a person uses a chemical substance and they begin to have negative physical, social and emotional functioning. With addiction, there is use of the chemical which leads to negative affective functioning as well as tolerance of the drug,” said Kirby. The students in Kirby’s classes are mostly recovering drug abusers in their late 20s and early 30s. We have a lot of students who come for the Alcohol and Drug Studies classes. The recovering are between their late 20s and early 30s. They tend to be more responsible than 18-yearolds coming in. The 18-25 years old have more problems,” said Kirby. He adds that alcohol and drugs are especially damaging for people under the age of 25 because at that age, the brain is still developing. Not just alcohol, marijuana, meth
or cocaine but any chemical has an impact on their brain development,” said Kirby. Many of the recovering students have the challenge of overcoming withdrawal, also known as the rebound effect. Kirby says withdrawals vary from drug to drug, but the general rule is that they have the opposite effects of the drug. Withdrawals are a physical reaction to the chemical. If a person takes a depressant drug, they will be stimulated. “When they go through withdrawals, they’re hyperactive,” said Kirby. They may not be able to sleep, generally feeling lethargic. Somebody who takes a stimulant will have a depressant effect. They want to sleep a lot and they have a loss of appetite. When they wake up, they have a big appetite. l SEE DRUGS ON PAGE 3
Rogue Festival Returns Page 6