The Telescope 64.21

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SPRING TRAINING IN SESSION

SUCCESS IN FILM

Football team begins preparation for fall season.

Former student advises students on entering entertainment industry .

[SPORTS, PG. 11 ]

[A&E, PG. 7]

FOCUSED ON PALOMAR

the telescope Monday, May 2, 2011

Palomar College, San Marcos, Calif.

Vol. 64, No. 21

With public aim to avoid layoffs, officials move to justify them in the future

ARE WE

READY?

Palomar officials say that the B Building and other structures on campus would hold up against a major earthquake. Even the colleges’ oldest buildings are hardy enough to withstand an 8.0 magnitude quake, which is just a bit smaller than the massive tremblor that hit Japan in March. (Kristen Campbell/The Telescope)

Palomar will survive it. MARK SAUNDERS the telescope

In 2010, there were 308 registered earthquakes in Southern California measuring 3.0 or more, according to USGS.gov. This year there have been 22, far behind 2010’s pace of registered quakes. Whatever the number, Facilities officials said Palomar is ready for Mother Nature’s next shake-up. Kelley Hudson-MacIsaac, interim director of Facilities, said Palomar is held to a state structure standard and must keep facilities up to that standard as it continually changes. “Structurally, all these buildings are built to withstand an 8.0 earthquake,” MacIsaac said. “The buildings here are in really good shape.” MacIsaac said that the FIELD

Act of 1933 is what holds Palomar—and other structures in California—to the building requirements in place today. The FIELD Act was developed because of lenient structural code in the 1930s that failed under the 6.3 Long Beach quake in 1933. Schools particularly were greatly damaged and prompted an overhaul of building codes across the state. These codes are updated every two years. According to MacIsaac, Palomar has used these updates in code and lessons learned from past drills and evacuations to improve current plans in place. She specifically cited the campus power outages of 2008 and turn to QUAKE, PAGE 9

Is Calif. next in line for a big one? Some scientists say a period of more frequent megaquakes is under way, similar to 1950-65. Massive tremblors have hit some of the world’s biggest faults, and California might be next.

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7 3

1

Pacific Ocean

8 9

Palomar officials are quietly making the case for pay cuts or layoffs of staffers in the coming years, even as the college president promises to keep all permanent employees on next year’s payroll.

munity in Greenwich Village, N.Y. At the time there were anti-sodomy laws and the LGBT community was often the target for police harassment, arrest and entrapment. On this memorable day, the victims fought back. Ever since, LGBT Pride Parades have been held in the month of June, around the country, to commemorate the stand against inequality and discrimination towards the LGBT community. When asked what pride meant, John Jones, president of the LGBTQA on campus said: “[Pride means] expressing who you are without feeling like you’re confined to others expectations.” Many people spoke including Monika turn to PRIDE, PAGE 3

turn to ANALYSIS, PAGE 9

Indian Ocean

11 8.0 to 8.9

9.0 to 9.5

4

Earthquakes of magnitude 8.5 or greater since 1950 1950-1965

2004-2011

1. Tibet, 1950 8.6

8. Indonesia, 2004 9.1

2. Russia, 1952 9.0

9. Indonesia, 2005 8.6*

3. Alaska, 1957 8.6

10. Indonesia, 2007 8.5*

4. Chile, 1960 9.5

11. Chile, 2010 8.8

5. Russia, 1963 8.5

12. Japan, 2011 9.0

6. Alaska, 1964 9.2

*Aftershocks to the 2004 quake © 2011 MCT Source: ESRI, USGS Graphic: A. Raymond, The Seattle Times David Leonard, The Telescope

7. Alaska, 1965 8.7

daniel martin and Joel Ramos the telescope

The Palomar community gathered in the Student Union April 26 in honor of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies community as part of the second annual LGBTQA Pride day. There was an open mic for those who wanted to share their experiences in the LGBTQ community, live music, free food and free HIV testing. “Our goals for today is to make Palomar students more aware of the LGBT community and to show our support and to make Palomar campus a safer environment,” LGBTQA Vice President Brian Barry said. This year marks the 42nd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, which is when the LGBTQ pride movement had its beginning. According to the civilrights.org website, in 1969, police raided a bar in the Stonewall Inn. The bar was a regular hangout for the LGBT com-

NEWS ANALYSIS The college walks a fine line in trying to bring its spending down in the face of deep budget cuts. Fearful of the backlash that any talk of layoffs would bring from faculty and classified staff who already feel the pain of hiring freezes and class cuts, but hamstrung by millions in cuts from the state, the administration moved to arm itself with numbers for the inevitable turn to tougher cost cutting measures at an April 27 budget forum. Officials have offered vague answers to questions about staffing cuts in the long-term, but have stressed that there will be no layoffs next year. With state lawmakers promising at least $8.9 million in cuts to Palomar next year, and fierce partisanship stymieing budget negotiations between the governor and legislature, administrators have already stepped up calls for austerity on campus. The results have been modest but impressive: savings on basic office supplies like paper and computers this year total almost $300,000. But that’s just a drop in the bucket of the college’s $100 million-plus budget. It’s clear that Palomar will need to cut spending in other areas, and administrators are offering up staff pay as a ballooning expenditure that is sucking up more and more of the budget. This budget discussion is

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Event brings pride to Palomar’s campus

John Jones, left, hands out burgers at the LGBTQ event on April 26. (Phyllis Celmer/The Telescope)

david leonard the telescope

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Atlantic Ocean

Experts think San Diego is due for a major quake.

Palomar President Robert Deegan tells a packed room of students and staff the college faces an almost $9 million budget cut this year, and worse future prospects. (Deb Hellman/The Telescope)

Club honors alternative lifestyle students with food, music, speeches

BY THE NUMBERS

$8.9m

is the minimum cut for Palomar

$10m+ could be cut if lawmakers defund Prop 98

$100m is the rough size of Palomar’s budget

91%

of that money will spent on staff pay next year, administrators say

$300k

in supply money has been saved this year

$10m

more could be spent in 2012 than the college receives in revenue

$6m

in money will be taken from college savings next year


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