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Issue 7 • Friday, Dec. 12, 2014 • deltacollegian.net
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INSIDE
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Video shows teacher with Delta connection dragging student By Richard Reyes deltacollegian@gmail.com
Athletes with scholarly GPAs PAGE 8
PHOTO BY RICHARD REYES
ACTORS STUDIO: Harvey Jordan giving intructions to his students about finals.
TAKING HIS FINAL BOW
Drama professor to retire at end of school year By Richard Reyes deltacollegian@gmail.com
Delta gets jazzy with talented performances PAGE 8
Dell’Osso is place to go for family fun PAGE 8
UPCOMING Stockton Symphony presents ‘Holiday Pops,’ 6 p.m. Dec. 13, Delta Center for the Arts Board of Trustees meeting, 5 p.m. Dec. 16
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Lights. Camera. Action. For 23 years Delta College Drama Professor Harvey Jordan has taught students these commands to students. Next semester will be his last. Jordan will retire at the school year’s end. Recently Jordan produced Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” giving it an urban touch up. “It had been on my mind for a while, I have done many, many Shakespeare (plays) and I never done Romeo and Juliet,” said Jordan. “It has been on my mind and I felt like I wanted to do it this last year because I wanted to do a big show that had a lot of roles.” Twenty-eight roles to be exact. The largest in a single play ever here at Delta, said Jordan. Jordan’s teaching career began in the 1980s at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, which was started by Hollywood actor Gary Sinise, who is popular for roles in “Forrest Gump” and “Apollo 13.” Jordan soon left Chicago area and
landed in Stockton, bringing East Coast theater life to the West Coast. Jordan opened an acting school called “American Blues” on the Miracle Mile which he ran for five years. “I always been committed to intense and very intimate theater, and there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to do the kind of shows that I wanted to do at Delta College, so I established my own acting studio for a while,” said Jordan. During this time, he met Paula Sheil, then a reporter for The Record. “I was writing about arts and I was doing very little theater during that period. So it made me crazy, because I was excited about what Harvey was doing,” said Shiel. After leaving the newspaper and taking a full-time English position at Delta, Sheil and Jordan later collaborated on five plays. “Through Harvey’s guidance, I proved to myself that I could do the harder roles,” said Shiel. While not many have understood Jordan’s passion for his teaching style, he believes he must give 110 percent when
See JORDAN, Page 8
In November, a video of a Stockton Unified School District physical education teacher dragging a 14-year-old student into a pool went viral. The video, said to have shot by another student, was recorded in August. That teacher, Denny Peterson of Edison High School, is seen in the video grabbing the girl by her limbs. The girl screams “no” repeatedly and also tells onlookers her top is falling down. Peterson, described as a 10-year employee of SUSD by various news outlets, is also connected to Delta College as an assistant baseball coach for the Mustangs. Since the 90-second footage showing Peterson went viral, SUSD put him on paid administrative leave. Initially, Peterson had been reassigned to another school. Gilbert Somera, the Stockton-based attorney for the teenage girl’s family, said the girl’s mother came forward because she was upset more hadn’t been done after the incident. Since then Peterson has been charged with corporal injury to a child. As late as Nov. 21, Peterson was listed as the assistant baseball coach on the Delta Athletics website. The biography has since been removed from the Delta Athletics website. As of Dec. 10, Peterson’s teaching biography was still up for the Delta College website as Kinesiology instructor within Humanities, Social Science, Education, Kinesiology and Athletics department. He’s listed as an Associate Adjunct Professor who teaches health education courses. Delta Athletic Director Daryl Arroyo declined comment. A representative of the Human Resources Department also declined com-
See PETERSON , Page 8
Vasquez newly elected trustee for Area 4 board seat By Gaby Muro
deltacollegian@gmail.com
Newly elected Board of Trustees District 4 representative Richard Vasquez credits his experience as a member of an arts committee and the Pets Advisory Committee for his successful campaigning. Vasquez says he spent five years on both committees building experience, but admits he was intimidated when running against incumbent and now former Board President Taj Khan. Vasquez was elected to the
seat during the November election, but the results weren’t finalized until weeks later. Vasquez said he hopes to improve Delta’s quality for students, staff and the college itself, saying in an email interview he will “continue to seek opportunities to help improve my role as a trustee for Delta College.” But how does a student defeat a seasoned board member with more experience? Vasquez admits he did most of his campaigning in Lodi and adver-
See TRUSTEE, Page 8
PHOTO COURTESY OF JIM VERGARA
SWEARING IN: Richard Vasquez is sworn in to the Area 4 Board of Trustees seat on Dec. 9.