Fashion Sense

Photos show diverse fashion around DVC campus.

Features - Page 2

DVC Dominates

Vikings win the Diablo Valley Classic to improve to 9-0 on the season.

Sports - Page 4

Volume 75 Number 2 Copyright © 2009 Diablo Valley College - The Inquirer Thursday, October 1, 2009www.theinquireronline.com

News................ 1, 6Sports....................4Features................2Entertainment........3

Calandar.................6Sports scores.........4Campus Buzz.........5Police Beat.............6

Classified Ads........6Editorial..................5Opinions.................5Staff Information.....5

74Days until finals

TheInquirerOnline.com- Polls - Videos - Blogs - Slideshows - News

Updated daily with breaking news

First-time visitors will never again search in vain for the campus along Golf Club Road and Vi-king Drive.

At noon today, tarps, planks and plastic net-ting will be stripped away to reveal a large, cement sign – 7 yards long and 1 yard high – that marks the main entrance. District chancellor Helen Benja-min, President Judy Wal-ters and board members are expected to attend.

Sunset Building & De-velopment, Inc., began

working on the signs in late August. The compa-ny kept the signs under guard for today’s unveil-ing at Golf Club Road to prevent the curious from getting a sneak peek.

“A published photo ahead of time would take much of the thunder from our event,” said Chrisanne Knox, DVC’s marketing and communications ad-ministrator.

Chris Leivas, the col-lege’s vice president of finance, said the signs cost $70,000, which came from the college’s facility use funds.

The President’s Council chose to go with cement instead of redwood, be-cause the cost was simi-lar, but cement would last 30 years, Walters said.

The signs have been a top priority with president

Walters, who could not easily find the school when she first arrived two years ago.

Previously, the only campus identification was a smaller redwood sign on Golf Club Road.

In addition to the two large, cement signs, two smaller signs on Stubbs Road will designate the campus.

Student Scott Lanway said the new signs will be well worth it.

“The first time I went to the campus a couple years ago, I missed my turn and got lost,” he said. “I wouldn’t wish that an-noyance on anyone.”

No remodel for architect and engineering students

Chelsea ReedStaff Writer New signs end

the ‘annoyance’

Activities escape cut

Sarah Kim / The Inquirer

Mike Melloni cuts through the old DVC sign facing Golf Club Road on Thursday September 24.

Budget axe misses sports, drama, music, newspaper and more

Elise Acredolo / The Inquirer

Christian VillanuevaStaff Writer

Oksana YurovskyStaff Writer

The state’s budget cri-sis has hit DVC again, this

time for students and staff in the architecture and en-gineering technology pro-grams.

Plans to remodel the ex-isting Archi/ET buildings

have been put on indefi-nite hold, since state fund-ing failed to make its way to the college.

The project was to be funded 50 percent from

the state and 50 percent from a local bond mea-sure that passed in 2006, said Chris Leivas, DVC’s vice president of finance and administration.

Although in the works for years, the project was still in its infancy stage, as architectural designs had not yet been submitted.

“At this point, that

money is reserved for that project,” Leivas said. “This would be DVC’s first

A college committee rec-ommended Tuesday that $2.49 million in red ink be erased this year by using one-time money stashed in various budget accounts.

But it spared funds generated by students, coaches and other volun-teers through drama pro-ductions, concerts, athletic events, the student news-paper and other activities related to the instructional program.

Instead, the committee chose to recommend a 2 percent cut in the operat-ing budgets across all divi-sions of the college.

If approved by Presi-dent Judy Walters, this $2.49 million will be added to $585,000 in additional

savings after classes were slashed last month from the spring and summer 2010 schedule.

This brings the total re-duction for the current school year to $2.9 million due to shortfalls in state funding.

“Given all the work that’s going into it, I probably will take what they are propos-ing,” Walters said prior to the meeting Tuesday.

Over its four days of meetings, the Budget Over-sight Committee heard from faculty members and managers who asked that the funds generated by students, called “co-curric-ular trust funds,” be spared because they are essential to programs that directly affect students.

See CUTS, page 6

See ARCHI, page 6

2Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sarah Kim / The Inquirer

Finance major Evie Sandi poses in the sun wearing a white sun dress scinched with chunky black belt.

LEFT (Counter clock-wise from left to right) David Kush-ner, Cinnamon Hen-dricks, Darik Kobata, Lily Chhan, and Sam Owens appear to be celebrating Halloween a little early this year with their elegant-punk gear.

Business major Lyle Sargent poses with style – straw hat and all.

Most students use fashion to express themselves and show a piece of their character through the way they dress.

Trends from the past have even made a comeback. Styles from the 40’s, 50’s, 60s’ and 70’s can all be

found in the threads people are sporting today.A popular trend with the ladies these days are dresses

or baggy shirts worn with a belt around the waste. This look is easily found all over DVC.

A particularly popular accessory for the men of DVC has been fedora hats, which add a classy look to any outfi t.

For both men and women, skinny jeans are still a popular fashion item.

Whether your style is just jeans and a sweatshirt, or extremely out there with a gas-mask as one of your ac-cessories. Your style is your style and the differences in self expression make DVC a unique campus.

launtashiontudentsS their

3Thursday, October 1, 2009

Jessica Barksdale can write anywhere, as long as she has her computer.

“I learned how to be a writ-er with two children around in an 800-square-foot home,” said the novelist and DVC English professor.

Barksdale, 47, who or-ganized the book reading Sept. 24 at DVC by Word of Mouth Bay Area, sold her fi rst novel, “Her Daughter’s Eyes,” in 1999. It is the story of a girl who decides to hide her pregnancy from every-one, but her sister and give birth at home.

“I sent it to 20 agents, and four wanted to read it, and two wanted to sign it,” she said. “I felt pretty lucky.”

Barksdale said getting a book published is hard work and consists of many cold calls and query letters to pub-lishers.

Of her writing process, she said “Once it’s past 50 pages, I know what I’m up to.”

Writing since age 12, Barksdale has written 17 novels, 12 of them published. Although, fi rst published as a college student, she didn’t get serious about writing un-til age of 33.

Barksdale’s style of writ-ing is contemporary fi ction and paranormal romance.

In addition to teaching English at DVC for the past 20 years, she also has taught an online novel writing course at UCLA since 2000.

“It’s good for my stu-dents to see I practice what I preach,” Barksdale said.

How does she manage such a schedule?

“I like being busy,” she said. “I’ve also learned to say

no to things I don’t need to do.”

Barksdale said her sons, ages 22 and 24, aren’t fazed about their novel writing mother.

“It’s really no big deal to them anymore,” she said.

But she credits them with helping her with dialogue and details, and because many of her characters are young men.

Barksdale’s biggest tip for aspiring novelists is to make sure your book is completely done before trying to get it published.

“Sending it out,” she said, “is your one chance.”

Seven Bay Area writers entertained a standing-room only audience with excerpts from their novels during a reading and book signing event in the Trophy Room on Sept. 24.

All were writers from Word of Mouth Bay Area, which English professor and novelist Jessica Barksdale calls a “support network” of 75 published women authors, who write different genres and meet once a month to “talk business.”

“Writers are often alone, and they can’t go to an offi ce to get help,” said Barksdale, who organized the event.

Students with their classes, teachers and others who came just to listen exceeded the amount of available seating and sat on the fl oor or stood against the walls.

The fi rst reader Catherine Brady, read, “Wicked Stepmother,” from her short story collection, “The Mechanics of Falling.” She admitted she was happy to be fi rst because people just want to go home at the end.

Her daughter Sarah Kahn, 22, a DVC stu-dent, was in the audience.

“I can milk her for writing wisdom,” she

said.Susan Freinkel read from her non-fi ction

story, “American Chestnut.” She talked about how fungus killed this tree native to the East Coast tree and how people grieved its loss.

“American chestnuts in the East Coast were what the redwood is to us here,” she said.

Before reading from her novel, “The Wednesday Sisters,” Meg Waite Clayton told how her love for writing was shot down at a young age, and she stopped writing for 30 years.

“Sometimes you see business majors mak-ing more money, but that’s not always the way to happiness,” Clayton said, caution-ing the audience against giving up what you love.

Award-winning journalist and non-fi ction writer Linda Himelstein, read from her lat-est book, “The King of Vodka: The story of Pyotr Smirnov and the Upheal of an Empire,” and New York Times bestselling author Mi-chelle Richmond read from her novel, “No One You Know.”

Richmond got the audience laughing with a funny story from her childhood about how she grabbed a woman’s breast in a pool locker room at age 5.

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga read from, “Love in Transla-tion,” and explained that her Japanese infl uence comes from her husband, who is Japanese.

“I’m Japanese, and I was impressed with Wendy’s sto-ry,” said Miki Ozawa, 27, an economics major.

Barksdale read from her novel, “Believe in Me,” say-ing with a laugh, “It’s a little sexy.”

The science fi ction-ro-mance writer described her

book as “Harry Potter for adults with sex.”

Following the readings, the authors took questions and then headed to a book signing table for those interested in buying their work.

“A lot of the readers had a good sense of humor, and it was interesting,” said Jesus Lo-pez, 19.

“Michelle Clayton and the breast story got my attention and kept me awake,” he joked.

The event was funded by money for col-lege wide activities that may not be available next year due to budget cuts.

Local pens gather for reading

Courtney Johnson / The InquirerSusan Freinkel grabs the attention of her audience as she reads a selection from her book.

Teacher moonlights as fi ction novelist

Julie GeorgeStaff writer

Julie GeorgeStaff writer

Jessica Barksdale

Susan Browne’s love of poetry goes back to age 10 and a neighbor’s gift in Long Beach, Calif.

“She brought me over a book of po-etry, and I was immediately captivated by it,” she said, letting out a light laugh at the memory.

In high school, Browne was infl u-enced by musicians like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen, and in college by W.B Yeats, Denise Levertov, Gary Snyder, and Gal-way Kinnell.

Although her fi rst major was philoso-phy, she quickly switched to literature and poetry, and then specifi cally to po-etry.

Today, Browne is a DVC English professor and an award-winning poet, whose latest book, “Zephyr,” will be published next fall. Recently she was named winner of the 2009 Poetry Book

Editors Prize by Steel Toe BooksAlthough she sometimes uses her

poems in class, Browne said she relies mainly on the work of others, because she doesn’t want to pressure students into liking her poetry simply because she’s their teacher.

“I sometimes do the writing with my students, and we share what we’ve done.” she said.

Having taught at DVC since 1985,

Browne said teaching sometimes gets in the way of her writing.

“Time is essential,” Browne said. “It is one of the most important elements of the development of craft.”

However, teaching is also a great ca-reer for a writer, she said.

“You are always immersed in teach-ing what you love and learning along with the students.”

The original title for her upcoming book was “Dear, Ephemera,” but her editor requested the change. One of her favorite poems in the book is “Zephyr” and wind is mentioned in her poems 12 times. “Zephyr” means wind.

“I’m happy, though,” Browne said. “I like the wind, not the blowing hur-ricane-in-your-face wind, but the kind that gently lifts your hair.”

She said she is excited to have this, her second book, published, because, like Walt Whitman, she believes “a poem is not fi nished, until someone has heard it.”

Susan Browne balances poetry with teachingCourtney JohnsonStaff writer

Susan Browne

4444Thursday, October 1, 2009

After falling just short of a playoff berth last year, the Vikings are off to a promising start to the volleyball season.

DVC cruised past Merced, beating the Blue Devils 3-0 on Saturday and improving its preseason record to 9-0.

With victories over 2008 playoff teams Shasta and San Francisco City col-leges, the Vikings were a confi dent bunch heading into their Big 8 Conference opener Wednesday against Modesto Junior College.Results of the game were not available at press time.Of the nine victories, fi ve of the teams they beat made playoffs last year.“So being able to beat all of them is a benefi t to us,” said coach Jackie

Ponciano-Babb. With four returning sophomores, including All-Conference selec-

tion Jenny Kawakami, coupled with a good group of freshman, the Vikings have a strong core of players.

“It’s nice that the freshman came from a good back-ground,” Ponciano-Babb said. “Meaning they came from clubs and played for a successful high school.”

DVC will have a tough road to get to the post season, given the strong conference schedule it must get through.

Perennial playoff teams Santa Rosa and Sacramento City are always tough matchups with Sierra and Delta lurking behind them.

But more than the schedule, the Vikings will need to heal up before conference games begin. Sophomore setter Lilia Marcic is out with a rota-tor cuff injury and middle hitter Holley Morris has an ankle sprain. “When they come back, we are defi nitely a better team,” Ponciano-Babb

said. “But as long as we play like we did against Shasta with that lineup we will be fi ne.”

Both Marcic and Morris are out for two weeks but should be back in time for DVC’s fi rst conference home game Oct. 2 against Sierra Col-lege.

With the early successes, the Vikings have an eye on their ultimate goal of qualifying for playoffs.

“I talked to my core of sophomore and told them this is it,” Poncia-no-Babb said. “This is the year that we are going to do playoffs.”

Viking volleyball rolls to the top

TOP Jenny Kawakami spikes the ball on Sept. 23, 2009 against Shasta College during the Diablo Valley Classic. FAR LEFT Player Beverly Bruno serves the ball. LEFT The team celebrates another win.

Curtis UemuraStaff writer

Where do you get your news and are you up to date on current events?

Editorial BoardEditor in chief: Ariel Messman-RuckerNews editor: Curtis UemuraFeatures editor: Nick SestanovichEntertainment editor: Troy PattonSports editor: Christian VillanuevaOpinions editor: Kate VasilyevaOnline editor: Chris CorbinCartoonist: Elise AcredoloInstr. Lab Coordinator: Ann StenmarkAdvisor: Jean Dickinson

StaffPhoto chief: Ariel Messman-Rucker, Chris CorbinPhotographers: Jessie Thomp-son, Ryan Daley, Sarah Kim, Adam Chrysler, Courtney John-son, Kimberly WalkerReporters: Chelsea Reed, Ingrid Almaraz, Julie George, Linda Wolf, Oksana Yurovsky, Travis Wonacott, Sawitree Sonburanakul

The InquirerDiablo Valley College

321 Golf Club Road, H-102Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

The Inquirer is published on Thurs-day mornings during the school year by the journalism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and refl ect a two-thirds

majority opinion of the editorial staff. All signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artist and not necessarily those of the Inquirer, Diablo Valley College of the Contra Costa Community College District.

Phone: 925.685.1230 ext. 2313Fax: 925.681.3045

E-mail: inquirer@dvc.eduWeb: www.dvc.edu/journalism

www.theinquireronline.com

Budget cuts aim at co-curricular classes

Brooke Grandin, 19Graphic Design

Major

“I use the internet, Yahoo mostly. I also watch the news every once in a while...I bring up events my friends don’t even know about.”

Interviewer: Julie GeorgePhotographer: Jesse Thomp-son, Sarah Kim

Winner of the 2008 JACCGeneral Excellence Award

Louis Fabian, 19Buisness Major

“I’m not up to date with my news, and I just watch television at night to get my news on FOX.”

Ying Su, 21Buisness Major

“The New York Times Online. I have a subscrip-tion... they e-mail me the news everyday.”

Thursday, October 1, 2009

5

Strolling through campus I see several camou-fl age backpacks, and those humping them might as well have faces of the same pattern.

Veterans on this campus have yet to reveal themselves. Some of them, they, hide behind an experience few have witnessed. As a 2-tour Ma-rine veteran, I know the feeling.

Thousands of new born college kids kick around in the quad chatting about things that don’t matter, while most of their behavior in the

classroom is instinctive to slapping them in the back of the head. I haven’t done it. Yet.

My time here at DVC was like a mission re-ceived from a Captain. I took it seriously. And even though I’m transferring, I know this cam-pus, and this community of veterans, has im-mense potential to fi ght for and strengthen our systems of support.

In addition, like many of us have up to now, we must participate in our community. We have to

educate ourselves about the benefi ts we deserve, communicate among our peers, and organize around our values. This is a crucial time for us, and with hundreds of more veterans set to land at DVC very soon: it’s our responsibility. Go to www.dvcveterans.org and become a member.

Ryan BergDVC Student veteran

Dan Purnell, 18English Major

“I bounce around a lot between CNN.com and MSNBC.com. I hope I’m up to date as much as everyone else. Maybe not as I should.”

I read Julie George’s article “Facebook: for the young, not the young at heart,” with great inter-est, probably because I’m one of those “young-at-heart” individuals to whom she referred.

I joined Facebook back in November, and over the last ten months, the site has changed my life. I have reconnected with countless friends from high school and college, some whom I hadn’t seen in 20 or 30 years. I have caught up with for-mer students who are now out there in the “real world.”

In addition, my son, who is a sophomore at UC Berkeley, and my dad are both on Facebook. My parents lives 3,000 miles away, and Facebook has been an incredible way for all of us to keep in touch on a daily basis, something we never had before.

And I’m not alone. President Obama uses Fa-

cebook to stream many of his addresses live, so that members can comment immediately as his speeches are in progress. Gavin Newsom is using Facebook as an important tool in his campaign to become governor of California.

Many musical groups, including the Indigo Girls, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, and Jimmy Buffett, use Facebook to keep in touch with fans and to announce upcoming concerts.

Nonprofi ts, including Livestrong, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Special Olym-pics, and the Sierra Club, use Facebook for fund-raising.

The media, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, CNN, and NPR, use Face-book to post news stories, many within seconds of breaking. And businesses have discovered that Facebook is an extremely effective communica-tion and marketing tool.

But in Julie’s estimation, all of these people and organizations are “wrecking” Facebook be-

cause Facebook “just isn’t for adults.”It’s time that Julie and others who share her feel-

ings realize that Facebook is a tool that is bring-ing people of all ages, all over the world, togeth-er. Yes, it was developed as a tool exclusive-ly for college students; but founder Mark Zuckerberg was smart enough to realize that Facebook was something that people of all ages could use, ben-efi t from, and enjoy.

Finally, I may be “young at heart,” but I’d chal-lenge Julie any day to see which one of us uses Facebook more profi ciently. Hey, Julie, if you’re up to the challenge, just send me a friend invita-tion.

Carolyn SeeferGuest writer

“Facebook is a tool that is bring-ing people of all ages, all over the world, together.”

The Budget Oversight Commit-tee made a wise choice in leaving the students’ co-curricular trust ac-counts untouched in its search for $2.49 million in budget cuts for this school year.

President Judy Walters had in-structed the committee to consider using these funds when scouring budget categories for unspent, one-time money. But these student-gen-erated funds amounted to a mere $130,170 in a list of $2.6 million possibilities.

The committee Wednesday rec-ommended a 2 percent across-the-board cut in division operating budgets, rather than taking money raised by students and volunteer faculty and staff to cover necessities the college does not provide.

Twenty-three programs rely on this money, including the music in-dustries studies, chorale, symphonic band, jazz ensemble, orchestra, chorus, guitar ensemble, jazz work-

shop, performing arts, horticulture, business workshops, multimedia, journalism, dance performance and nine sports programs.

It comes in through ticket sales to plays, concerts and sporting events, plant sales, and volunteers who work the snack counter at athletic games

or help with rentals of the college’s athletic facilities by outside groups.

Without this money, programs would have folded or had to search for new sources to pay for such ba-sics as uniforms, equipment, costs of away-games, conferences and fa-cility upgrades and repairs.

The Inquirer itself was in danger of losing a little over $15,000 raised through the sale of advertisements in our newspaper.

This money is used to pay for supplies that exceed the $800 sup-ply budget from the college, new computers, photography equipment, software, state and regional journal-ism conferences and much more.

Although it was President Walters herself who proposed the co-curric-ular accounts for consideration, she told an Inquirer reporter she was concerned.

“On a personal basis, I hope we don’t have to go that route,” she said.

Walters placed the burden square-ly on the shoulders of the commit-tee, perhaps to distance herself from alienating any constituent groups.

For students, already facing class closures next semester, the sparing of the co-curricular trust funds rep-resent the one bright spot so far.

Elise Acredolo / The Inquirer

More than 154,000 websites contain the phrase, “It’s so gay,” according to www.think-b4youspeak.com.

And you can’t walk the campus without hear-ing it dozens of times

In fact, “that’s so gay” used to be my favorite expression. And I said it a lot.

It could be my response to the movie starting late or a book not be-ing available. Just about anything at all really.

But that all changed during high school.

Freshmen year, a teacher constantly corrected me, telling me and the class it was wrong.

But I didn’t care or even listen until one of my closest friends revealed he was gay during my sophomore year.

I was happy for him, but when I told some friends they just looked at me in surprise.

“Well,” one said, “I always thought you were kind of a homophobe.”

That really hit me.I had said “that’s so gay” so often, people as-

sumed I had a problem with gay people. At fi rst, I shrugged it off, thinking, my newly

“out” gay friend would tell me, if I was really offending people.

But he never said anything about the subject.Finally, I did some research, only to discov-

er that millions of gay teenagers won’t say the phrase is offensive. They keep quiet, sometimes even stopping going to school when it gets so bad.

Right then and there, I swore I would never use that phrase again. But surprisingly, it wasn’t easy, and more often than I’d like to admit, teach-ers still had to correct me.

What fi nally made the difference was my friend telling me how he had been harassed at school for being gay. No one physically harmed him. They hurt him with their words. I didn’t want to be one of those people.

“That’s so gay “means something is “lame,” “stupid,” “dumb,” “wrong.” Basically, we’re tell-

ing gay people their lifestyle is “lame,” “stupid,” “dumb,” “wrong.”

Just the other day, I had an instant messenger conversation with a friend during which he con-stantly used the phrase. I corrected him every time he referred to something as “gay.” But each time I substituted the word “lame,” he responded as if I’d just agreed with him.

Finally, I just told him to stop equating “gay” with “lame.”

“It actually of-fends people,” I wrote. “It’s not like ‘lame’ is that much harder to type?”

He seemed to agree, although I don’t know whether “it’s so gay” will disappear from his future conversations.

Still, it’s worth the effort. I didn’t change over-night either.

“Right then and there, I swore I would never use that phrase again.”

Courtney JohnsonStaff writer

Sticks and stones: Words do hurt

Generation gap non-existant on Facebook

Cuts...Continued from page 1

The co-curricular accounts amounted to $130,170 out of a possible $2.6 million in possible cuts

Athletic Director Christine Worsley said 10 sports programs rely heavily on revenues generated by coaches, instructors and student volunteers who organize rental of sports facili-ties to outside groups, sell tickets and man the concession stand.

The money then fi nances the teams’ travel expenses, uniforms, program equipment and facility upgrades and repairs. Without it, some sports would have to be canceled, she said.

In a written statement to the com-mittee, music instructor Bret Peppo said the choral program depends heavily on the fundraising activities of students through ticket sales for performances.

Music instructor Owen Lee said his program would “be gutted in one fell swoop” with the loss of co-curricular funds.

The committee – chaired by Vice President Chris Leivas – included managers Stacey Shears and Ann Patterson; faculty members Keith Mikolavich and John Hanecak; staff members Courtney Crew and Sue Handy; and student Jodie Cheung.

In a separate interview prior to the committee’s decision Tuesday, Wal-ters expressed her support for the student-generated funds.

“On a personal basis, I hope we don’t have to go that route,” she said.

Walters said she directed the com-mittee to the budget accounts with as-yet-unspent savings to avoid em-ployee layoffs during the current school year.

“But I recognize that by cutting our

[spring and summer] schedule we’re also cutting people, and we’re affect-ing the lives of part-time faculty,” she said.

The president’s contingency ac-count, consisting of $50,000, was left intact, as were three other funds.

“That buffer is if something hap-pens to a building,” Leivas said of the emergency account. “Every semester something comes up.”

The other 16 funds were either wiped out or partially used towards the defi cit. For instance, all of the carryover money in the facility use account was eliminated for a savings of $371,745, while $800 was left in the equipment account and $261,797 went towards the defi cit.

Enrollment management was left with $44,600 of what was a $140,140 fund, with the remaining money ear-marked for the Ujima and Student Ambassadors programs. The cam-

pus-wide activities fund was left with $750 after losing $7,800.

The list went on and on.“I know that the 2 percent across

the board is tough for people,” said Leivas at the close of Tuesday’s meeting. “We got 98 percent [of the necessary $2.9 million cut] with one-time funds. That’s pretty astound-ing.”

Thursday, Oct. 1Art Department - Visiting Artist: Christa AssadArt-2069 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 1-8Saint Mary’s College On-The-Spot AdmissionTransfer Center10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 1-15UC Berkeley at DVCTransfer Center9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 3The Art of Nature Exhibit ReceptionLibrary, L-2181 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 5Speech and Debate Team MeetingPAC-1062 p.m. – 4 p.m.Every Monday and Wednesday

Tuesday, Oct. 6Saint Mary’s Representative VisitQuad10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 13CSU East Bay Representative VisitCounseling Building9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Appointment12 p.m. – 1 p.m. Drop in

Wednesday, Oct. 73 p.m. Men’s Water Polo4:30 p.m. Women’s Water Polo6:30 p.m. Volleyball

Hearing Loss Association of America-Diablo Valley ChapterWalnut Creed United Methodist Church

CLASSIFIED PLACEMENT

INFORMATION

$1.50 a line2 line minimum. 32 char-acters per line includes punctuation & spaces

Copy and payment due the Monday before pub-lication date.

For more information call 925.685.1230 ext 2313 or stop by The Inquirer offi ce.

6Thursday, October 1, 2009

The Contra Costa Com-munity College District will release a compiled mem-oir next month in celebra-tion of its 60th anniversary, but the reminiscences are not without controversy.

At issue is the chapter, “Battle Over DVC Reorga-nization,” by Bruce Koller, which covers a manage-ment change so tumultu-ous it led to a nearly 93 percent faculty vote of no confi dence in then-President Mark Edelstein in 2002, a lawsuit by the Faculty Senate in 2003 and an appeal in 2004.

Two former DVC Fac-ulty Senate presidents – Barbara Sawyer and Gay Ostarello – read a chapter draft and fault Kohler’s se-lection as author, since he was not actively involved in the events covered and did little research.

“I’m unhappy that the memories being asked for aren’t wider,” said Sawyer, Faculty Senate president from 1995 to 2000. Al-

though retired, she teach-es a class each semester.

Calling the chapter “not historically accurate,” Sawyer added, “It is only fair to have multiple mem-ories [of such a] volatile time.”

Ostarello, Faculty Sen-ate president from 2000 to 2003 and now retired, said in an e-mail inter-view: “Clearly, this chap-ter does not qualify as history. That said, I am dismayed that even a col-lection of stories includ-ing these pivotal events in DVC’s history does not include contributions from any faculty members who were involved on a daily basis with what trans-pired. Bruce was not one of those people.”

The approximately 400-page book, “Sharing Memories: Contra Costa Community College Dis-trict, 1948-2008,” will be unveiled at an anniver-sary celebration Oct. 5 at the Craneway Pavil-ion in Richmond’s Marina District near the shipyard where the district’s fi rst classes were conducted.

The book project was initiated by district Chan-cellor Helen Benjamin, co-ordinated by Tim Leong, the district’s public rela-tions director, and edited by Bill Harlan, a retired English instructor.

Leong described the

book as 25 chapters of movements that shaped the district as told by “indi-viduals talking about what they remember.”

But Sawyer said she had expected the book to have a similar approach to “Diablo Valley College at 40, 1949-89,” DVC’s 40th anniversary book. “It was very well researched ... [and] controversial areas were covered fairly, “ she said.

However, Leong offered a different view of the DVC book, calling it “a good book to read if you want to fall asleep.”

Social science profes-sor Greg Tilles wrote the last one-third of “Diablo Valley College at 40” and will have a section repub-lished in the district’s anni-versary book. He pointed out the DVC book was praised by the AACJC Journal (August 1990) and the Community Col-lege Week (April 1991).

“Maybe it wasn’t as live-ly from the outside,” Tilles said, “but, internally, a lot of people were pleased.”

Harlan defended his se-lection of Koller as author of the chapter on the Edel-stein years.

“Koller was very much affected but not caught up in the emotion of both sides,” he said. ”I don’t think he glosses over it, but I don’t think he writes

in bloody detail over it.”For his part, Koller, who

was Faculty Senate presi-dent during the quieter years of 2005 to 2007, described his chapter as “my own memory of what took place…not a lot of re-search.”

He said he was not trying to be a reporter or a histo-rian and acknowledged he was “on the side-lines, ob-serving,” during the years he wrote about.

But Ostarello said read-ers may assume other-wise.

“I am afraid that this ‘book of memories’ will be viewed by some as the defi nitive word on the re-organization struggle at DVC, and that would be a travesty” she said. “A much more accurate and complete story needs to be told.”

The district’s book will be sold for $30.

The new Police Services headquarters offi cially re-opens today with refresh-ments, door prizes and tours of the building.

“It’s a chance to walk around [the station] with-out being in handcuffs,” said Lt. Tom Sharp.

The original building was destroyed by an arson fi re on June 23, 2008. To date, no one has been arrested in connection with the crime.

Police Chief Charles Gibson called the new sta-tion more “user friendly.” He said the offi cers provid-

ed input on its design.Larger than the previous

building by 480 square feet, it allows more storage space for lost and found items. The offi cers also now have closets for their personal belongings.

Children from the col-lege’s Family Life Center will get their own tour of the station and take home shiny plastic badges.

Gibson said the celebra-tion is to show that Police Services is “part if the com-munity, not apart from it.”

Tours of the new station begin at 11 a.m. and will continue every 30 min-utes. A ribbon-cutting cer-emony is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

Book commemorates 60 years

Linda WolfStaff Writer

Celebration to mark police services re-openingKate VasilyevaStaff Writer

Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

The new police building stands on the ashes of the former headquar-ters which was burned down June 23 of last year.

Cover of ‘Sharing Memories,’ which will be distributed with each $30 ticket to Oct. 5 event.

Photo Courtesy of Tim Leong

Critics say Edelstein pages lack research

stand earthquakes and are not energy effi cient. Also, the plumbing needs work.

Built in the early 1970s in an architectural style called “mid-century modern,” the

buildings resemble the “skin and bones” style of architect Mies van der Rohe.

“It was state of the art at the time,” said architecture instructor Daniel Abbott, excitedly explaining the ar-chitectural importance of the buildings. “It’s like a collec-

tor’s item.”The building is made out

of brick, beams and metal panels. Its only windows face onto an inner courtyard that was once maintained by a master Japanese gardener.

“You get this very shel-tered core,” said Abbott

about the work space created by the buildings design. ”It’s served us pretty well.”

Across the courtyard in the Engineering Technol-ogy building instructor Tom Chatagnier agreed, saying, “I’ve been able to use this space to do the type of things

I like to do. [A remodel] would be nice.”

Buildings and grounds manager Guy Grace said early discussions about the remodel included talk about making a green building and using it as a center for teach-ing how to build green.

Archi...Continued from page 1

Calendar

“People have put their blood sweat and tears to help raise the money. For me that’s pretty much program money.”

- Susan LambVice president of instruction

(Staff writer Nick Ses-tanovich contributed to this story)

Correction:

A statement made in the article titled “Non-smokers forced to police new rule in quad” in the Sept. 17 issue of The Inquirer was misidentifi ed.

The quotation reading “I’d hold my breath when I walked through the quad,” should have been attributed to DVC Student Chris McDonald.