THE THEGUARDSMAN GUARDSMAN G
Volume 153, Issue 8, May 16- May 29, 2012
Why was Alice sent to “Siberia?”
Vice Chancellor demoted, blamed for mishandling cuts
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“INJUSTICE!” New Placement Plus One policy draws fire from student advocacy group Students Making A Change– aka SMAC. But what’s best for City College?
By Peter Hernandez
THE GUARDSMAN / @MILESOF / PHERNANDEZ@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
Dr. Alice Murillo, dean of Evans Campus, sifts through marked-up budget reports and highlighted low-enrollment course documents in her office, saying she doesn’t know why she’s there, or why she was demoted. Not only are students being hurt by budget cuts, but City College administrator Murillo is also feeling the backlash for what some have called the “mismanagement” of a delicate budget. Former Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Murillo can only speculate on the causes of her demotion — and all of them seem to be the fault of individuals ALICE Page 7
Political Science instructor Sue Homer, members of SMAC and English instructors argue in the hall about placement tests after the Institutional Effectiveness Committee meeting on April 12 at 33 Gough St. SARA BLOOMBERG / THE GUARDSMAN
By Sara Bloomberg
THE GUARDSMAN / @BLOOMREPORTS / SBLOOMBERG@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
Photo of Alice Murillo courtesy of City College.
INSIDE: Pg. 2 Shared Governance not sharing public docs Pg. 3 CCSF Speech and Debate team fires up
Formed at City College in 2010 by Lena Carew, a former student at the college, Students Making a Change has been involved in advocacy campaigns this semester from placement tests to free muni passes for students. But alongside the victories, the group has been followed by a cloud of controversy. Members of SMAC spoke passionately at the April 26 Board of Trustees meeting, when a controversial resolution on a new placement testing policy was up for a vote — and eventually passed.
“Some of the students are being paid to speak here,” accused Student Trustee Jeffrey Fang. “I think their voice is still valuable … but we need to take that under advisement.” Chelsea Boilard, the director of programming for Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, a community organization in San Francisco, confirmed there are eight student leaders at City College that are paid by the organization but declined to comment on the specifics of their employment. Veronica Garcia, a City College student and Coleman
Pg. 12 Track Star shatters running records Pg. 14 Memorial for Howth st. murder victims Pg. 15 Secret to the success of OCCUPY movement: rock-inspired posters
Carew, Coleman Advocates’ SMAC Coordinator, who wrote the grant says that future funding is uncertain. As a group, the students in SMAC tend to speak uniformly on issues when in public — like politicians-in-training — and two members, Marjory Ruiz and Juan Segundo, are designated as media representatives. However, the group was unusually candid at their May 9 meeting. At a SMAC student leader meeting held in the Ocean PLACEMENT TESTS Page 8-9
A Bug in the System: Part 3
Is the college’s data truly safe? By Joe Fitzgerald
THE GUARDSMAN / @FITZTHEREPORTER / JFITZGERALD@THEGUARDSMAN.COM
Pg. 10 Escape from City College: the final column
Advocates’ SMAC Basebuilding Club Leader, said she gets paid $10 per hour. According to the Rappaport Family Foundation’s website, they have given SMAC a $40,000 grant, through Coleman Advocates, for “organizing and advocacy campaigns at City College of San Francisco.” One of the many private funders behind the controversial Student Success Task Force, the Rappaport Family Foundation seeks to encourage student activism and civic engagement at community colleges in California, according to their website.
A Bug in the System is a multi-part article chronicling an alleged major virus attack on City College’s computer systems. “Part One” ran in the Jan. 25 issue of The Guardsman. You can read the article on TheGuardsman.com. First reported at a City College board meeting in January, the allegations of viruses and security breaches at City College have spawned countless questions and accusations within City College’s Information Technology department and the school administration. The ultimate question being this: is your personal data at City College safe?
The answer relies on whether or not you believe a report filed by external “digital forensics” auditor USDN, inc., is accurate. The reality painted by USDN’s report describes the entire school’s network’s infrastructure as vulnerable to attack by a host of malware and viruses, such as the high-profile “Ghostclicker,” and that there are definite steps the college needs to make to tighten its security. Their report has come under fire from the college community as wildly inaccurate and based on methods that amount to guesswork and charlatanism. The college community alleges many things about the auditor, alleg-
ing that the $78,000 spent on the company’s consultation findings was money wasted. GETTING PERSONAL To understand the allegations against USDN, you have to go back a ways into the technology department’s history with their relatively new Chief Technology Officer, Dr. David Hotchkiss. As previously reported by The Guardsman, the college community has launched a witch hunt for the CTO. Many of their misgivings with him began when he started reorganizing the department, causing grievances with many employees who attested to The Guardsman that they had their
feathers ruffled. But as the Hotchkiss continued his work, it was clear that the friction between him and his staff of more than 70 was beginning to sully his reputation at the college. The Guardsman spoke with more than ten employees who described working under Hotchkiss as an exercise in distrust and fear. Recently one employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, revealed a detailed log of grievances, including that Hotchkiss issued disciplinary action against an employee who “embarrassed him,” and frequently took credit on his City College-hosted blog BUG
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