Los Angeles Collegian

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V EWS Q:

How do you feel about ASO elections?

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Wednesday March 28, 2012 Volume 166 Number 3

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EWS BRIEFS

Calling All Writers

Students with experience in short story, poetry, ESL and graphic novels writing may enter the 14th annual English and ESL Department writing contest. Students may submit by April 19, at 2 p.m. in Jefferson Hall 301 for a chance to win cash prizes. For more information visit www.lacitycollege. edu/academic/departments/engesl/ writing_contest.html

American Diabetes Association

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Collegian Expo offers Useful Tips for Diabetics

L.A. Forecast:

Jobs to Heat Up With Summer

Students in Los Angeles may find more job opportunities during the second half of the year according to a new survey from Manpower Employment Outlook.

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Author Says Comics Influenced a Movement Illustration by Jose Tobar

By Anna Kamalyan

any of the businesses surveyed plan new hiring, while a small percentage plan cuts. More students are getting hired according to Apple One and Matura Farrington Staffing Services in Los Angeles. The current national unemployment rate is 8.3 percent, while the California unemployment rate is 10.9 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “I’m definitely seeing a plus with the job market this year. Things are getting better,” said Dennis Sherman, an associate at the Apple One Employment Agency. “If it’s a better market, a lot more job opportunities

Granting Access

unemployed in 2011. The Career Center at LACC offers a variety of services to students. Some of these services include interviewing tips, assisting with resumé writing and helping students to choose a career. See Job Growth on page 3

Student Success Goals Outlined

By Derek Hines

Entertainment Gurus Speak Entertainment industry professionals arrived at LACC on March 22, to share their success stories. Producers, actors and directors from Dick Clark Productions and ABC shared advice with students on how to make it in the entertainment business. This is the second year the LACC Foundation and the president’s office hosted the entertainment panel. Compiled by Byron Umana and Layla Fernandez

LACC

WEATHER FORECAST WEDNESDAY

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THURSDAY

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Moise Molina enters one of the handful of doors on campus that is still not equipped with electronic motion sensors.

FRIDAY

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SATURDAY

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SUNDAY

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Campus construction paves the way for better mobility, but experts say more than repairs on doorways are needed. They say public colleges should focus more on academic programs.

Opinion and Editorial / News ............ 2-3 Arts & Entertainment / Campus Life .............. 4-5 Sports .......................... 6

will be available.” Officials confirm an increase in employment in Los Angeles. California hit an unemployment high in 1993, but the current number of unemployed represents a 12-year high, according to statistics from the Department of Numbers. The group gathers public data and “contextualizes” it to keep the public better informed. “From everything I’ve seen and heard, there will be an increase of employment,” said professor Bishop Jeffrey Nugent, of the USC Department of Economics. “It will be vast enough to bring the unemployment rates down. We have a ways to go.” In Los Angeles County, there were more than half a million people

In a time of financial crisis in higher education, the Student Success Task Force Recommendations are being met with both optimism and criticism.

Candidates vying for the Peralta Community College District chancellor position will be interviewed by the District Board on April 10. The candidates include Jamillah Moore of Los Angeles City College, Dr. Jack Daniels of Southwest College, Dr. Jose Ortiz of Allan Hancock College, Dr. Andrea Serban of Coast Community College and Scott Lay of the Community College League of California.

INDEX

Scan to see students’ views on how ASO can attract voters.

The Voice of Los Angeles City College Since 1929

Candidates will be looking for votes at an ASO General Election Forum on April 17, from 2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. in the Main Quad. Online voting will be available April 23 - 27. For more information, visit the ASO office located in the Cub Center.

President Moore Named Finalist

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Los Angeles

ASO Candidates to Stump for Votes

Dr. Adifilu Nama, the author of “Super Black American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes,” signed books for a crowd of about 40 people last Thursday in the Communications Building. He lectured about how comics helped change the image of black men and women in America. Nama says comics mirrored issues in the Civil Rights Movement.

$34,000 IN $CHOLAR HIP$

Photo by Matthew Mullins/ Collegian

By Eun Ju Lee Disabled students who use wheelchairs now have better access to buildings compared to a few years ago. Every building is now equipped with at least one accessible door that opens automatically as students approach. At the south entrance to the

Chemistry Building, an automatic door swings open after students go up the new ramp. The entrance to the basement on the north side now has operable push plates. Moreover, all entrances in the Life Science Building, Communication Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Library and Cesar Chavez Administration Building have electronic motion controlled doors.

The Science and Technology Building doors also have functioning push plates and accessible ramps. Students who have classes in buildings where doors have been repaired or replaced say that they are quite satisfied with the improvements. Carlos Marsh, a disabled student who uses a wheelchair says he can get into buildings just fine despite his handicap. “Recently, for me, there has been no problem getting access to doorways, and using [the] push plate button,” Marsh said. “I was able to get in and out fine. All the doors were working perfect.” See Disabled on Page 3

Members of the Student Success Task Force have forged 22 recommendations they say will strengthen the community colleges in California. The task force is composed of 20 members including a state senator, a mayor, educators and administrators. Their recommendations were sent to the California Legislature for approval earlier this month. Some are already being adopted by schools and some can be in place in as little as six months. The more intensive changes still need to go through the Legislature and will take longer to administer. “We are in the implementation phase, which is exciting,” said Paul Feist, vice chancellor for communications in the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. The proposed plan is in accordance with Senate Bill 1143, which passed last June and changed the way funds are distributed to colleges. California community colleges enroll more than 70 percent of the undergraduate student population in California, and 25 percent of all students enrolled in community colleges nationwide, according to the Chancellor’s Office. The Task Force members want to offer more support to students and help them identify and meet goals faster. The recommendations emphasize that students need guidance to achieve success. There is a need for support once students enroll in community college. Statistics show that only 52 percent of degree seeking students complete either a certificate degree or transfer within six years. This could hurt the state in the future, because by 2025, California will be 1 million degree holders short of meeting job demand, according to research by the Public Policy Institute of California. One policy recommendation is

”The Strengthen Support for Entering Students,” which requires students to have assessment testing, orientation and the creation of an educational plan. At this point, students who show signs of being unprepared are directed to participate in resource services. The policy’s main goal is to have students declare a program of study early in their first terms of school, according to the task force. To make these decisions, a new student would have to rely on the expertise and guidance of a counselor. This exposes another problem, the fact that student-to-counselor ratios can be extremely disproportionate. Students often have to wait days if not weeks to speak to a counselor who has little time to give advice. Lisa White, a radiology student, experienced the drawback of too many students and too few counselors. “I just needed to know which English class I should take, and it took three days just to find out,” White said. “By then the class was full.” Students need help making informed choices, yet if the services are not efficient, success can be an uphill battle. However, there is some opposition to the task force, as expressed by the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees President, John Rizzo. “These recommendations are a threat to students who need our help,” Rizzo said. A recommendation that may be of interest is “Incentivize Successful Student Behaviors.” One of the basic goals set by this policy is to make sure that all Californians who have the desire and skill to benefit from higher education should have a place in the California community colleges. However, students are often admitted into colleges but are unable to enroll in classes they need to meet their goals. See Task Force on Page 3


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