Inside: News.......................1-3 Opinion...................4-5 Photo Story.............6-7 A&E.........................8-9 Sports......................10 Lifestyle...............11-12
the
orsair C
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
www.thecorsaironline.com
Volume C, Issue 23
Sports
State within sight By Wayne Neal Staff Writer The SMC Women’s Tennis team began their journey for another appearance to the state championship Tuesday at Reed Park, as they handled their first playoff opponent Rio Hondo with ease. Heavily favored, the number one seeded Santa Monica Corsairs were host to the number eight seeded Rio Hondo Road Runners in their first playoff match. The Corsairs came into the match, focused and ready to take care of business. The SMC women dominated the Road Runners from beginning with a 5-1 victory, the Corsairs claiming victories from the first five spots and Rio Hondo claiming their only victory in the sixth spot. The win in the singles matches were enough to get the win making the doubles matches unnecessary. SMC tennis alumnus Sally Mercado, who played on the team in 2009, was in attendance on Tuesday, and saw some key differences in this years’ team that separates them from her years with the team. “I see a lot more dedication on this
[See Tennis, page 10]
Jennifer Martinez Corsair Newly elected A.S. President Harrison Wills, 26, overlooks the outline during final meeting before being elected president. The final meeting lasted five hours.
A.S. winners announced
By Jonathan Bue Editor-in-Chief After a two-week delay, a new Associated Students board, headed by Presidentelect Harrison Wills, was selected after a special meeting was conducted by an Election Committee this past Friday to resolve whether certain candidates had violated the election code in their bid for a seat on the board. Although the four hour-long deliberation process determined one campaign worker and one candidate, Mackenzie Becket, to be in violation of the
code, the Election Committee ultimately passed a motion allowing violators to go unpunished. Becket, a write-in candidate running for Director of Student Services, was designated to having violated items three and four of section IX, concerning polling procedure, in a unanimous vote against her. She was found to have violated the minimum distance rule stipulated in item three which states “there must be a minimum distance of 8 feet between the candidate or campaign worker and the user of the personal computer when a vote is cast to ensure the voter’s privacy,”
and failed to appropriately register her iPhones for campaign use. As a result, Becket was suspended from campaigning during the voting period for one day. Arthur Rodriguez, a campaign worker for Harrison Wills, was also found to be in violation of the minimum distance rule. The items were the basis of all six complaints filed and addressed at the meeting. “There have been some voices that are saying we should just prohibit laptop computers,” said Leo Leung, Inter Club
[See Election Results, page 3]
Local beach scoured for trash By Nathan Gawronsky News Editor Mide Ogundipe, 23, a member of Sustainable Works, was busy picking up remnants of trash on the shore outside of the hotel Casa Del Mar. On the shore of a polluted pond, created from the runoff of the Pico-Kenter outfall, Ogundipe stood among scraps of plastic, Styrofoam, cigarette butts, and paper. “I think people desperately need to be more aware of what’s going on with the Earth. People are more interested in Snooki and that kind of stuff than about the environment,” said Ogundipe. “Seeing stuff like this is depressing—this clutter and trash shouldn’t be here.” Sixty volunteers from Santa Monica College and the surrounding areas volunteered on April 22 to help clean a long stretch of beach in Santa Monica. Armed with latex gloves and trash bags, the volunteers broke off into groups of three and five to comb the stretch of shore for the detritus left behind by tourists and locals. Svetlana Pravina, 18, Treasurer of the Eco Action Club, helped to organize the day’s event with Heal The Bay, a non-profit environmental group that works to restore
the Santa Monica Bay. For most of the 60 volunteers, it would be their first time cleaning a beach; and for both first timers and hardened veterans of the cause, the yield
how most of the trash found on the beaches of Santa Monica is brought from people, rainstorms, and storm drains leading to the outfalls that regurgitate into the bay.
Sal Guerra Corsair Carlos Takeshita, 9-years-old, participates in cleaning the Santa Monica beach with Heal the Bay and SMC students on April 22. Some of the trash found on the beach included plastic, candy wraps, toy shovels, cigarette btts and lots of microtrash.
produced astonishing results. Sixty to 80 percent of marine debris is plastic, Tom Fleming, Web Producer for Heal The Bay, explained to the small phalanx of environmental activists. He explained
Addressing the crowd from a lifeguard hut, Fleming also explained how it is especially important to avoid the water from storm drains, especially if they are stagnant, “because they’re filled with all kinds of bad
stuff: enterococcus and coliform bacteria are tested in the outlet’s waters—you definitely don’t want to take a dip in that water,” said Fleming. Fanning out, the small teams busily probed the sand for micro trash—small scraps of refuse too small to normally notice. Data cards, or lists of common items found on the beach, were distributed to each team, so that they could meticulously register the contents within their trash bags. The majority of their findings were cigarette buts, small strips of plastic, glass, and paper. “I had no idea how much micro trash there was; literally tons of small bits of trash,” said Alden Anderson, a volunteer. “It feels good to help clean up.” “I hope people are surprise by the amount of garbage they see today,” said Justine Rembac, A.S. Director of Sustainability and a member of the Eco Action Club. Rembac, recalling the moment when she became inspired to take up environmental causes, spoke about an environmental political science class under Professor Amber Katherine. “It’s just one of those classes that truly motivated and inspired me to get involved.” “I can’t make anyone care,” said Rembac. “I can only give them the opportunity to.”