Comets lose The Force is with us in Balboa Park. Arts &
El Camino College smacks Palomar's first place football team down, 56-45.
Entertainment, page 6
Monday,. Oct. 18,. 1999
Sports, page 8
Palomar College -
Students ¡Celebrate coming out
Free speech area removed Student government declares Palomar a free speech campus
Amy Bolaski Copy Editor
Tom Chambers Editor-in-Chief
For the first time Palomar College joined the festivities of National Corning Out Day with a four-day event put on by the Gay and Lesbian Association. The event, which began Monday, Oct. 11, featured male and female condom demonstrations, and distribution of condoms and safe sex literature. "We want visibility, and we want to celebrate the diversity of Palomar College," said Rachell Farr, who co-chaired the event with Joe Kraatz. "We wanted this event to be informative and safe," said Sara Geddes, GALA president. Many students stopped by the tables set up outside the Student Union to watch the condom demonstrations given by members of the Vista Community Clinic. "They've been very successful in educating people," Farr said. "Hopefully we've saved some lives with them here." Some students did acknowledge they are homosexual, but did so by simply talking with members of GALA, Geddes said. "For many people the first step is just telling somebody," she said. Farr commented that there were a lot of new comers at the weekly GALA meeting, including heterosexuals. "GALA is notj~st for gays, everybody is welcome," Geddes said. Farr agreed. "GALA is a social support association," she said. "We want to be a part of the community." Hosting this event was GALA's number one goal for the year. GALA also hopes to host a youth prom, to show support for homosexuals in area high schools who don't feel comortable going to their prom. Club members hope to attend the march on Washington, D.C., next April. GALA currently has about 50 members, but expects to grow after holding this event. "A lot of people didn't know Palomar even had a club," Geddes said.
Michael Paisner News Editor
The Associated Student Government voted unanimously on Oct. 13 to remove its designation of Palomar's free speech area and declared Palomar a free speech campus. The free speech area was designated by the student council in 1968, and was located on the lawn surrounding the Clocktower. ASG members felt the 21 year-old rules governing the lawn restricted freedom of expression. "I saw problems with some of the rules and regulations," said Bridgette Roncone, ASG vice president of state affairs and sponsor of the resolution. The rules violated the California Educa,tion Code and
the constitutions of the Associated Students, the State¡of California and the United States, Roncone said. Under the free speech area regulations, any student or faculty member could use the area from I I a.m. to 1 p.m. daily. Also, people wishing to use the area had to schedule events 10 days in advance, and be approved by the Student Activities Office. The resolution cited the the Education Code sections on free expression, which state that rules have to be adopted by the Governing Board of each district, and the Associated Student's constitution, which prohibits ASG from restricting freedom of expression. ASG members did not feel students should have to be approved to practice free speech, and that two hours a day was not an adequate amount of time to exercise constitutional rights.
see SPEECH, page 3
King and qUeen back for homecoming Shigehiro Kondo Staff Wri fer
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Tennis I The Telescope
Brendon Bietry, of the Vista Community Clinic, gives a condom demonstration during last week's gay and lesbian history events, hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Association.
Events spark publicity war Amy Bolaski Copy Editor
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Tom Chambers Editor-in-Chief
The walls of Palomar College became a battleground last week as students taped up banners in response to signs posted to promote awareness of National Corning Out Day. The Gay and Lesbian Association posted more than 30 posters advertising the event, said Rachel Parr, event co-chair. 1Wo opposing posters were put , up by Cynthia Roberson, a Palomar student, and her father, Edward Roberson. The posters read "Be proud of heterosexuality, Adam and Eve were," and "If your parents weren' t heterosexual you wouldn't be here." "We were offended by the GALA signs," said Cynthia Roberson. Roberson and her father went to the Student Activities Office and asked if they could make signs of their own. 'We made them, and got them approved right away," Roberson said.
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Posters promoting heterosexuality (left) were posted in response to posters advertising National Coming Out Day (top). One of the signs was tom down the day it was posted, the other was taken down by an instructor on Wednesday, said Roberson. Members of GALA said they didn't have a problem with the signs being posted. "They have the right to free speech, I'm glad that they can do that, as long as they get approved," Farr said. Many of GALA's signs were ripped down and destroyed during the week, Farr said.
At first club members tried to repost the posters, but then grew tired. "We just gave up, it was hot and we just didn't have enough time," Farr said. Fliers were also circulated on campus adve1tising GALA meeting times, and depicting two nude women together. The fliers, although they were distributed by two GALA members, were not approved by GALA or the Student Activities Office.
"We don't endorse stuff like that," Farr said. ''The most negative feed back we've gotten was for the unsanctioned fliers," said Sara Geddes, GALA president. Farr said this was not the first time GALA posters and fliers were tampered with. "Sanctioned fliers and posters are tom down and nobody really does or says anything about it," Farr said. "We're told that things like that just happen."
Palomar brought back the homecoming king and queen after a oneyear absence. A total of 581 students cast votes at the election booths in the Student Union, and the king and queen were announced at the homecoming football game at San Marcos High School on Oct. 9. Tyson Thompson was named king and Christina Fandino was named queen. Thompson , Fandino and four other students compose the homecoming court. The other students on the court were Shannon Gyde, Brooke Wilson, Sal Orozco and Michael Thurman. Orozco is also vice-chair of ASG's programming and publicity committee, which put on the event. "It was better than last year," Orozco said.
Because of election scandals two years ago, students elected a court last year with no king and queen. "There was tampering (of ballots), and I witnessed it," Orozco said. The Associated Student Government decided to put the king and queen spots back on the court this year. There haven't been any disputes about the election results. While Orozco said he was satisfied with the homecoming events this year, he feels there is still room. for improvement. "We needed more volunteers, we got way too busy," he said. ASG Executive Vice President Diane Vasquez went to see the homecoming football game and said she was happy to see how many students attended the event. "The stands at the football were full, and I think it was a pretty good turnout," she said.
Telescope staff wins 21 awards Michael Paisner News Editor
Palomar College journalism students brought 21 awards back from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges competition held Oct. 1 and 2 at Califronia State University, Fullerton. The staff of The Telescope won awards for excellence, with many of the writers and editors receiving personal acknowledgement. The online edition of the paper received an award for general excellence while the print edition garnered an honorable mention for its use of headlines. Tom Chambers, editor-in-chief,
accumulated three honorable mentions, one each for column writing, editorial writing and feature writing. "It was the first feature story I've ever written," Chambers said. The editorial and feature pieces had to be written on the spot, while the entries for the column competition were submitted in advance of the conference. Daniel Kwan, instructional assistant, also took home three awards. His highest honors came in the mail-in competition for advertisement design where he took second place. He placed fourth in both copy editing and
see AWARDS, page 3