Corsair The Santa Monica College
Volume C, Issue 9
www.thecorsaironline.com
Informing Since 1929
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
SMC compost isn’t dirt cheap By John Stapleton IV Web editor Behind the cafeteria of Santa Monica College, nestled behind a gated fence and dwarfed by two massive garbage dumpsters, there hides one of the college’s most prized possessions. Under a corrugated awning built specifically for this highly publicized treasure, sits a 16-foot steel bin filled with old food and over half a million worms. This enormous machine is an industrial sized vermicomposting bin, an $80,000 investment in sustainable technology that uses the natural process or wormfueled decomposition to turn SMC’s organic food waste into viable soil. In theory, the bin could recycle up to 600 pounds of food waste per day, saving precious dollars in both waste hauling from the campus, and soil procurement to the campus for our numerous gardens and flowerbeds. But in reality, it doesn’t save the campus a dime. In fact, the college only recycled three tons of food waste
for the entire year of 2007, and with the machine’s constant energy consumption, upkeep maintenance, and manual labor requirements, it continues to cost more than it saves. But according to SMC faculty, the shining star of SMC’s sustainability program was implemented, not to enrich budgets, but to enrich minds. “It’s more of an educational tool,” said SMC Grounds Manager Tom Corpus. “If we had it to make money, we would have gotten rid of it a long time ago.” Corpus is adamant about his position that the machine was not purchased to save the school’s budget, but to save precious resources by teaching others how they can help live a less wasteful, more sustainable life. Since the machine was purchased in 2001, it has been vigorously advertised in school literature and around the Santa Monica community as a monumental step towards a more sustainable campus. While claims predicting that the vermicomposting bin could be fiscally beneficial have proved to be purely speculation, its academic advantages continue to be taught through the use and exhibition of the worm bin. [See Compost, page 4]
George Mikhail Corsair Ismenia Oseguera, a custodian for Santa Monica College, rakes over the food she took from the bins in the college cafeteria designated for food and cardboard and deposited in the vermicomposting bin. The manure geneerated by the vermicomposting bin is then taken by the gardeners and used as fertilizer around the campus.
Adding properly After the melee to add classes that marred the beginning of the fall semester, college administration is taking steps to ensure that faculty deals with the situation in a more uniform manner. Brian White Corsair
Sun takes heat off college By Stephanie Forshee Staff Writer A dedication ceremony this past Friday afternoon at Santa Monica College commemorated the completion of its solar panels’ installation, the largest solar project in Santa Monica. As SMC President Chui L. Tsang spoke, he gestured to the clear view atop the parking structure on Pico Blvd. “I remember coming to L.A. and unable to see that view. I want our children to have this same view.” Tsang thanked SMC’s environmentally friendly attitude for the change.
In addition to the $3.6 million solar panels project, Chevron Energy Solutions, who worked with SMC on the project, helped to introduce a lighting retrofit, new heating
“Any money we save means that we can put the money into our mission: to educate students.” -Chui L. Tsang hot water boilers, a fire alarm system, and emergency circuit upgrades. Whereas often times the college will utilize multiple
vendors for a project this size, Chevron offered the designing, engineering, and construction as one package. Although the installation of the solar panels only took six weeks, the preparation lasted nearly two years. Director of Facilities and Planning Greg Brown said, “It was very difficult to add [solar panels] to an existing parking structure.” He said each parking spot needed to be x-rayed to ensure that the holes they made didn’t hit any of the existing structure. The solar panels alone should save the college over $8,000 each month. Over the
[See Solar, page 4]
By Miles Arnold Staff Writer Receiving add codes proved difficult this semester at Santa Monica College and with growing enrollment numbers it is only expected to get worse. But small steps are being taken by the Student Affairs Committee of the Academic Senate to ease the tension and make the process fairer to students looking to add classes. At the most recent Academic Senate meeting, held Oct. 26, the senate discussed and advised against any practices that may violate title 5, such as requesting items of a personal nature from the student as a condition for obtaining an add code. Title 5 is a statewide code of regulations for academic institutions. At the moment it is unclear whether any codes have been violated because the ambiguity of the wording offers vague guidelines on this issue. The Student Affairs Committee has proposed a list of “prohibited practices” that Eric Oifer, president of the Academic Senate, explained is part of an ongoing process. “What the committee wants to do is eventually develop a ‘best-practices’ document,” said Oifer. “That’s a more difficult one because those are the things we have to agree upon.” Oifer explained that drafting [See Code read, page 3]