Exercise 6.6
Community Colleges Counselors Struck Down By Budget Cuts
When Prop. 30 passed in 2012 some students expected more revenue, more teachers, and fewer budget cuts.
Yet budget cuts are not a thing of the past, but of the present, and many Northern California community college’s counseling departments are being affected by these cuts.
West Valley Community College counselor Katie Benett, could be rendered jobless if funds continue to be cut. “It makes me really nervous … I keep hearing that this is the worst, but then next year’s not going to be so good either. So I’m hoping that it’ll eventually improve, it has to. I don’t see how it can’t.” Benett said.
Benett is hired under a grant-funded position. She has a 20-hour workweek and has a guaranteed position at West Valley for two years, “By this time next year if we don’t get the approval to get the grant again, I wont have the hours here.” Benett said.
According to Bennet, a student who is in the career program has the ability to see a career-programming counselor right away, with the wait time of five to ten minutes.
A student not in an athletic, or career program, will have to wait to see a counselor the average time of 30 minutes, “It would be really hard to see a counselor the same that you wanted to.” Bennet said.
In response, Bennet even sees students who are not in career programs, “Just because of overflow, it’s been crazy over there, so it’s the least I can do”
Budget cuts have impacted West Valley’s counseling faculty over the past two years. Before there were a total of ten part-time counselors, today there are five, and a total of 13 full time counselors
Evergreen Valley Community College’s counseling center is another counseling center has also been struck by budget cuts.
Currently there are only 12 full time counselors and four part time counselors, serving a student population of 9,000.
Irma Archuleta Vice-President of Student services said two years ago due to budget cuts, Evergreen’s matriculation services were cut by 65 percent.
Matriculation services are a categorical program that receive money from the state specifically for matriculation functions like counseling, assessment tests and orientations, “It modified significantly what we could do and what services we could provide. It was a significant cut to counseling.” Archuleta said.
During that time three people retired. Because of the budget cuts those positions were unable to be filled according to Archuleta.
Archuleta says that the cut in counselors has drastically affected the time it takes a student to meet with a counselor, “When you have 12 counselors and you have half to do walk-ins and half of them doing appointments, you’re limiting the number of appointments.”
In spite of all the hard times, things are looking up for Evergreen.
Archuleta says that Evergreen can now afford to fill two full time counselor positions.
De Anza Community College has been the least affected by budget cuts from all three schools. Yet even its’ counseling center, although stable, is now facing a drop in counseling faculty.
There are currently 27 counselors at De Anza. In addition to meeting one on one with students, a majority of counselors double as instructors.
The current student population of De Anza, according to datamart.cccco.edu, is 21,526. That’s around 800 students per counselor.
De Anza counselor Don Nickel says on average he sees around ten students a day. The amount of time spent with each student depends whether the student is a walk-in or has set up an appointment.
Nickel spends on average around ten to 15 minutes with a walk-in student. A student with an appointment receives around 30 minutes.
Nickel has been employed at De Anza since 1997, and even with the cuts he says he has never seen the amount of students seen on the average by a counselor fluctuate.
De Anza’s counseling center has managed to stay afloat during these times of faculty and staff lay offs, but they will not walk away unaffected Nickel said.
Three retirements from the counseling center will take place before 2013-spring quarter Nickel said; these faculty spots will not be filled.
When asked what his thoughts were about the budget cuts and the future of De Anza, Nickel said, “Less counselors will increase the wait time. We can only wait and see what else these budget cuts will affect,”
Nickel said if students react negatively increased wait times, De Anza might have to imitate Foothill community college’s counselor appointment structure: Counselors will only see students if they scheduled an appointment ahead of time, due to the amount of complaints counselors have heard from students about the wait time.
Budget cuts have affected a majority of community colleges, and while counseling centers in some schools like De Anza have managed to avoid crucial hits from budget cuts, other colleges like Evergreen and West Valley have received the short end of the stick.
Short-form alternative piece
Form: Checklist
The fastest ways to see a counselor
1. If you are planning to speak to a counselor on a drop-in, plan on visiting them three to four weeks into the quarter/semester. Bennet, Archuleta and Nickel all say that most students wait till the last three weeks of the term to meet with a counselor to plan out the classes they need to take for the upcoming semester/quarter. All three counselors advise students to plan ahead of time and visit the counseling center during the middle of the quarter. This is the slowest time in most counseling centers.
2. Be involved in a school activity/program. At some colleges like West Valley, students are offered access to counselors that are hired for specific programs, like athletics and career programming. Bennet says that she would advise all students to get involved in a program on campus that includes a counselor so they can have an easier access to meeting with a counselor throughout the quarter/semester.
3. Schedule an appointment ahead of time. This will result in shorter wait times and a longer meeting with the counselor. The amount of times students spent with a counselor when a student has made an appointment to see them ahead of time outweigh the amount of time spent with a counselor when a student has a walk-in appointment. At West Valley, Bennet said scheduled appointments have an average of 30 minutes and walk-in appointments last up to ten minutes. This amount of time is the same for De Anza College to Nickel. At Evergreen, Archuleta says the average time a walk-in student has with a counselor is five to ten minutes. The wait time of a scheduled appointment to see a counselor is around five minutes at all three schools according to Bennet, Nickel, and Archuleta. The wait time for a walk-in student averages from 20 to 30 minutes.
De Anza students under pressure:Physicality may help
De Anza students under pressure: Physicality may help
While De Anza students flounder under heavy workloads, there may be a simple yet provocative solution to many students’ woes. However, the provocative nature of the solution may be difficult for the masses to embrace.
New research stemming from a report done by Dartmouth College and the University of Warwick, England, suggests that regular and high-voltage sex is directly related to people’s day-to-day productivity as well as their happiness.
According to the study, “Sex triggers the release of various brain chemicals, such as dopamine, vasopressin and oxytocin, which are associated with creativity, problem-solving, cooperation and confidence. It stands to reason that regular sex might improve performance in the boardroom as well as the bedroom.”
Even though a healthy and plentiful sex life may have been linked to positive mood and physique-boosting changes in the body, there still seems to be pushback from society at large; its role in happiness is in question, money and power acquisition seem to be mainstay of happiness these days.
Many De Anza students do not see sex as a component to a productive college education, even when the research suggests it is ancillary. Perhaps for this reason college students are getting burned out faster than before.
Parham Paydar is a third year student at De Anza; he explains his symptoms.
“Often times I would no longer be motivated to do the school work. I would just do the bare minimum so I could move on and finish my other class’s homework.”
Paydar, according to Dr. Christina Maslach professor of psychology at UC Berkley, is experiencing “typical burnout.”
“Burnout is a popular term and it’s easy to apply to just having stress,” said Maslach. “But burnout is actually something a lot more serious than people being stressed out from school … Actual burnout is a combination of exhaustion, depression and negative feelings about oneself.”
Paydar admits that he pursues this life of 18 units quarterly for the promise of a brighter and wealthier future for himself; perhaps a misnomer created by consumerism.
Social psychologist Justin Lehmiller, a contributor to the Dartmouth-Warwick study of more than 16,000 men and women, sites the possible unintended side effects of pursuing monetary over matrimony.
“Wealthier people engage in more dishonest and unethical behavior, and these traits may follow them into the bedroom. In fact, research has found that power and wealth are linked to a higher likelihood of infidelity,” says Lehmiller.
If Paydar is looking for a pay raise quick he may find comfort in some of the qualifying and quantifying the study provides. The researchers have found that sex is so closely tied to happiness that they estimate increasing sexual intercourse from once a month to once a week would have the same mood-boosting advantages as adding $50,000 a year to ones income.
De Anza students, like Paydar, will continue to burn themselves out over the pursuit of the corner office with a wall of accolades, but students could see happiness now by turning to their neighbor in class and saying “hi” and seeing where it goes.
Car Damage Express
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By DeeAnne Luna
At the De Anza College campus, the parking lot is filled to the max. Cars both big and compact line up next to one another as students begin the start of a long day.
During different times throughout the day, students enter their cars to go to lunch, work or home. Either route, these students take; damage can happen when they open their car door or as they are backing out of the parking lot.
“I haven’t had anything happen to my dad’s car thankfully,” said Jessica Norris, “If I had, I would have to start taking the bus again.” Norris who has been driving her car to school for the past two years explained that the only time she feels its safe to park her car on campus is when she has a class at 7:30 a.m.
Araceli Ramirez who has been attending De Anza for two years has had a few incidents where damage has been done to her car doors.
“Thankfully, the only damage that my car has had happen to it on campus are a few scratches here and there,” said Ramirez. Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as Ramirez when it comes to car damage on campus.
Juan Diaz who is majoring in Sociology has been attending De Anza for three years and has experienced something far worse than a few scratches marring his car.
“Last year during winter quarter, someone had ran into my bumper then took off,” said Diaz. Diaz also explained that he did not feel the need to report the crime because there was nothing that the campus police could do.
Even though Diaz could not do anything about his car, does not mean that someone in the same situation cannot find a way to protect themselves. If you are present when an incident similar to Ramirez or Diaz occurs, you can call the Foothill-De Anza police; they provide their on-campus services from 6 a.m. to midnight, Monday to Sunday.
For those who do get caught and reported for their crime, face one of following charges placed against them:
According to SHOUSE Law Group, a hit and run offence in California can have two types of outcomes. One of the outcomes is getting a misdemeanor and the other is receiving a felony.
A misdemeanor hit and run is a concern with property damage only, Those who receive a misdemeanor hit and run on a parked car can have five possible outcomes for charges.
One or all outcomes can occur to those charged for a hit and run misdemeanor, is three years of probation; another is six months in a county jail. You can be fined $ 1000, for restitution to any victims whose property was damaged or the California DMV can put two points on your license.
A felony hit and run is a concern with the injuries of the people in the car or near the car only. Those who get a felony hit and run are people who take off without trying to help the injured people involved.
One or all outcomes can occur to those charged for a hit and run felony such as is being fined $1000 to $10000, as well as serving up to one year in a county jail. Another outcome is serving two to three years in a California State Prison, as well as restitution for the victim’s injuries with two points being placed on your license by California DMV.
Norris, Ramirez and Diaz also explained that many of their friends have experienced car damage as well. They felt that action should be taken when it comes to the campus parking lot.
“Don’t get me wrong,” said Diaz, “I love my car but I would rather take the bus if it means my car won’t have to endure unnecessary damage.”
Sidebars
If convicted of a California misdemeanor hit and run on a parked car you can serve up to three years of informal probation. You can serve up to six months in a county jail, pay up to $1,000 in fines plus court-assessed penalties. You will also have to pay restitution to any victims whose property you damaged and two points on your driving record.
If you are involved in an accident where someone (other than yourself) is injured or killed, immediately stop your car at the scene and provide your identifying information as well as the identifying information of any of your injured passengers. This information includes names and current addresses, the vehicle’s registration number, and the name and current address of the car’s owner if you are driving someone else’s car. Also, if the accident results in a death and no officer shows up you have fulfilled the above obligations.
If convicted of a California felony hit and run involving (non-permanent, non-serious) injury, you may face any or all of the following; a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, up to one year in a county jail. You can serve up to two or three years in a California State Prison and have to give restitution
(only if the “victim’s” injuries were caused or exacerbated by the fact that you left the scene.)
What To Do If You’re Involved In A Hit and Run
1) Try to get as much information recorded about the incident even if you were not by your car at the time.
2) Don’t chase the hit and run driver because you have no idea if they are dangerous.
3) Call the police and file a report after you have all your information gathered.
4) File an insurance claim if you can provide enough information of the guilty party
Diversity at De Anza College
Diversity appears in an array of flavors. When someone mentions diversity it could mean cultural, racial, social, or even economical. At De Anza College campus we see these types of diversity every where, however, some may argue about its quantity.
“I don’t really think there’s a lot of diversity honestly, said Katt Min, 33, psychology major, “I think there could be more, Because the fact that Cupertino is primarily a fairly Asian dominant city, I think it’s primarily of Asian descent here at school. … Outside of that I think it’s, I think as far as that actually help maybe, like, a bit of the academic scholastics here.”
At De Anza, it’s not just the students who feel that diversity lacks on campus, although, it may be diversity in a different form that professors are looking for. “I really appreciate how diverse the student body is here,” said Maristella Tapia, professor of sociology, “In fact, it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to teach at De Anza. Because, we do have a very, not just racially diverse and culturally diverse, but what’s really important, I think, is economically diverse students body. And that’s important because it allows me to see that, you know, we are meeting one of our missions, as a community college to democratize education regardless of student’s economic abilities to pay for higher education. At the same time that I’m excited about the diversity that exists here at De Anza, I also feel that more needs to be done to really support students, so we’re not just opening out doors to studnets saying, you know, ‘Come here, this is a great place to be, this is a diverse campus’, but that we’re actually supporting the diverse needs of students? And so some students come in with a very strong academic background with a very strong support system with, you know, great economic support, but some students come without those things, they come, you know, from low income, low resource background, and they come with, you know, weaker academic skill and every year, we’re slashing more and more student services to those students. So, on the one hand, I think, it’s great that we have diversity but I think it’s not enough to just have diversity, I think we have to actually put our money into supporting students who need that support most, we need to make sure that diversity is something that, you know, and our commitment to diversity is something reflected in the way that we use our resources as a campus.”
| How diverse do you think the De Anza College Campus is?
A) Not at all B) Very little C) Just the right amount of diversity D) Too much On either side of the spectrum to the previous question, what do you think could be done to improve the situation? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ |
So whether students are worrying about having not enough ethnically diverse people and the teachers are worrying about the economically diverse students, it is apparent that we could always improve, to do more for our students at De Anza.
Sports teams and the budget
De Anza College student athletes face difficulties when it comes to the Athletics. Possible eliminations of certain sports teams still hang in the air as the budget decreases year after year.
The division budget of the Physical Education and Athletics Department is broken into four sections and a fifth section being financial aid from the DASB.
Budget A is used for salaries and benefits all athletic coaches, physical education instructors and other faculty and staff members receive.
Budget B covers “capital costs,” as Dean of the Physical Education and Athletics Department Coleen Lee-Wheat called it. This budget consists of paying the salaries of sports officials that mediate sporting events, employees in the Lifetime Fitness and Wellness Center, and transportation costs for athletic teams such as fuel and mechanical costs.
“Sometimes, [Budget B] can also be used to repair equipment, but vary rarely,” said Lee-Wheat.
A budget titled “lottery” is used for physical education classes and other teaching purposes. Lottery money is an “additional augmentation,” said Lee-Wheat, that is given to the department by the state, and it can only be used for items that can add to a student’s education.
Lottery funds can only be used for classroom items. For example, in a Strength Development class, the funds can be used to purchase dumbbells but not the stands to hold the dumbbells because students would only use the dumbbells, not the stands.
Things like stands or other similar racks would fall under “capital costs”. Therefore those expenses would be paid from the B budget.
The fourth section of the budget is fundraising. This is done both by the department as a whole, but also by each athletic team.
Lee-Wheat talked about the “Night of Magic” fundraiser that De Anza does every year. After the Physical Education and Athletics Department had their turn, they were able to purchase almost all the machines in the Wellness Center.
Athletic teams use fundraising methods to help cover costs of things they need, like team uniforms or lodging. For example, the women’s basketball team holds a basketball tournament, or the volleyball team runs a camp during the summer.
Volleyball head coach Dawnis Guevara said that their fundraiser helps the student “set off” expenses for things like shoes and uniforms.
If a team cannot cover all their expenses, a fifth element is the DASB. De Anza’s Student Body is able to provide some assistance when needed.
But recently, due to budget cuts and other obstacles, the Physical Education and Athletic Department, just like other departments, has been losing money.
Before Proposition 30, there was a programs reductions list that contained three teams who were listed for elimination. Though Prop. 30 has passed, they still remain in the top 5 on the elimination list.
“The bottom line is that we don’t have enough to support all the teams,” said Lee-Wheat.
She said that outside of the normal structural deficits each department was given, the P.E. department was given an additional suggestion to reduce costs because the amount of teams’ travels and costs to run the facilities exceed the expense amounts of other departments.
When taking all things into account, including other expenses that were once covered by the president’s or district’s budget, Lee-Wheat said that the P.E. department is about $70,000 short of the operating budget.
But as time goes by, the P.E. department, like other departments, is figuring it out as they go. However, as Lee-Wheat said anxiously, next year the budget problems will be even more difficult. As money runs out, hope seems to be going with it.
Sidebar(s):
Night of Magic –
An annual fundraiser in which a selected department gets to host and raise money to use within that department. It is a Foothill-De Anza District foundation fundraiser. Along with other sources for financial assistance, the one night allowed the Physical Education and Athletics Department to renovate the Fitness Center and Weight Rooms as well as purchase new equipment. Swimming pools redone and the football and track and field stadium was completely rebuilt, as stated in a letter from the dean (Lee-Wheat) on the De Anza website.
Teams in the top 5 spots for elimation –
In deciding what teams to put on the eliminations list, a set of criteria’s were looked at. Factors like: the growth of the sports program, the level of the league (not only in De Anza college, but other community colleges as well) and whether there was steady or growing and not losing participants. Other factors included things like whether or not students from any given team were transferring and if they were getting the full student experience and not just the athlete part of a “student-athlete.” One factor that did not play a role in the decisions was the average GPA’s of sports teams.
Week 5: Movies By Cody Parker
I went and saw “The Dark Knight Rises”, which is a movie in the Batman series and I enjoyed it. I don’t go to the movie theaters very often, but this movie was a great action flick to watch in theaters, with intense fighting scenes between the hero, Batman, and the villain, Bane. Although I prefer The Joker, a villain from a different Batman movie, I like to root for the villains in movies, and Bain was an awesome villain. My all time favorite movie is drastically different from Batman; “The Blues Brothers”. I like “The Blues Brothers” so much because I am a blues music fan, and this movie features many blues legends in it such as John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles. I also like the sense of humor in this movie. I first watched the Blues Brothers on video cassette at home.
Batman
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm#cast
Blues Brothers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080455/?ref_=sr_1
Trailer: Blues Brothers
JournalismDada 