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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2008)
The 4 Clackamas Print EDITORIAL Revenue policy needs updating Despite popular belief to the contrary, running a college is a business. And like any business, the college must run at a profit. However, the new tuition hike is not the best way to keep Clackamas Comunity College solvent. * The budget crisis has its origin in several factors: a rising cost of maintenance, pay raise conces sions, a felling number of students and drops in state funding. * The administration responded by boosting tuition fees by $5 per credit By raising fees, the school has sloped on a Band-Aid, but it has yet to stop the bleeding. Charging a de-cieasing number of students an increasing fee is a recipe for zero-sum gains. Just ask any economics instructor. A survey of other schools reveals fems of income more palatable and extremely profitable. Clackamas’ Board of Education would do well to consider. One option is to expand the food court and invite fest-food vendors to bid on locations, charg ing eitho-a flat fee or a percentage of gross profits. In scandalous exam ples of fiscal mismanagement, Chartwells currently receives approximately $24,000 a year to run fee cafeteria, and holds an exclusive contract for all food services. Worse yet, quality is mediocre, choices are limited and prices are higher than the same stuff found # inyourlocalQuick-E-Mait. Most annoying of all is the grill closes at 2:30 pan. Call us crazy, but someof us happen to get hungry in the afternoon. Vending machines are another easy source of income that cost nothing out of pocket yet generate a consistent cash flow. Impulse buys of soda and chips is literally pocket change. Student governments offal bring in these vendors, earning funding for student activities and fleeing up funds for other uses. By tradition, selling name rights is a great way to raise revinue. Businesses foot the cost of construction and pay for the privilege of doing so. Lastly, there is teaming aca demic programs with private business. Clackamas has the land and suitable department matches can be found if somebody just bothers to look for them. Many colleges expand their nursing programs to include full- time patient care. Some schools lease land to full-care retirement or hospice care and incorporate nursing students into the staff. When financial times are I you can tighten your belt or in look for new innovative ©make more money. :’s choose the latter. Qpiri Wednesday, April 16, 2008 VOTE FOR RALPH WHO Kenton Benfield 77te Clackamas Print People think they understand democracy. Most do not Representative democracy, the specific theoretical subtype of the United States, is a political system in which the majority, usually the poor, controls the government by deciding upon those political actors who they want to represent them. What this means is that the common people literally command the government; they are its supreme source of authority and its only justification for existence. ’ Why vote for a third party? Before the question can be addressed, it is necessary to address the more fundamental question that is implied, “Why vote in the United States?” Political parties are private, non-govem- mental organizations that seek to gain politi cal influence via elections. Historically, America has had a great num ber of parties, all with the objective of obtain ing political power. Other democracies, such as Great Britain, have over 30 parties vying for control. However, from 1861 onward, beginning with Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican, no president has been elected who did not belong to the two major parties dominating American politics today. Many political theorists over the ages have defiantly opposed democracy. In fact, it was only Thomas Jefferson who, among the founding fathers, approved of democracy, as long as the people were edu cated in political theory. The Constitution never mentions the word democracy, as the original system was a Federal Republic, with almost no voting. Plato, the Greek philosopher of antiquity, warned that democracies produce a conform armondo ist mentality among the people who rely on “folk wisdom.” Ideas are spread by the elites in power, which are repeated among the populace as if they were their own original ideas. Such is so much of political “opinion” in America today. One example of “folk wisdom” is the fol lowing statement: “A vote for a third party is a wasted vote.” This statement is so full of contradictions and downright ignorance of how democracy works that it could be the subject of a book A voter must be vigilant against being told that his or her vote is a waste simply because that candidate may lose. When voting for representatives, at any level, one should vote for the candidate whose competencies best embody the moral, political and personal ideals of the citizen. An individual should vote so that a violent revolution is not required to address an issue. If file people, who are the rulers in a democracy, do not assert their author ity over their govern ment, their govern ment will do it for them. This is a dic tatorship. You obey, or die. Literally, vote, or die. Thequestionisbet- ter phrased as “Why vote for an alterna tive party?” After all, there are more than three parties to choose from. In fact, the Green Party, the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party and the Socialist Party all have presi- dential candidates. What about, fourth-, fifth- or sixth-party candi The best reason to vote for ai party is to effect change to the p< digm that has dominated Ameri Civil War to the Iraq War (Phase If a voter is satisfied with th then he or she can vote for one of parties. But if a voter wants real genuinely improves the status: option should be considered. If one takes the time to stg issues and compare them withi the alternative candidates and the parties, the decision is no longer two evils that characterizes coi mentality. There are options, there are people have all the power and tk Choose wisely. lllustration by Andrea Simpson Cl Poor weapons discipline causes pa BORBOÀ on tiie books regarding weapons, specifically firearms, on campus. pinion editor Furthermore, there are state and federal laws that also apply. Creating a gun-ban As often as somebody does policy is a non-issue. something stupid, somebody else is always hanging around just waiting to point his or her finger and scream None, zip, zilch, nada. that the sky is felling. Tile Clackamas Board of No need to waste valuable Board Education is now frantically looking time developing even more verbiage to develop policies regarding weap to address something already legis ons on campus specifically relating lated ad-nauseam. to firearms. Not that it will stop anybody from tiyingtofixit This issue recently came up after a self-professed “gun-nut” student was According to all applicable laws, arrested for making threats online the only non-duty police or security against other students and faculty. At allowed to. carry firearms onto a cam the same time, another person shot pus are people who have a concealed himself in the leg on campus. firearm permit. These are people who have As a person who fluently speaks received an extensive background a number of languages, I know there check, firearms training and registra are some ideas and concepts flrat tion with the police. These people transcend culture and nationality. are obeying the law, not breaking it One of those ideas is “If it ain’t Yet still, there are some people broke, don’t fix it” who seem to think that Clackamas is However, something that is a modem OK Corral and it is about uniquely American is our almost insane need to “fix” something until 10 minutes till high noon. We seem to have lost all touch it is well and truly broken. with reality, or at least as fer as FortunatelyfortheChickenLittles acknowledging the difference concerned, there are already policies O between justifiable caution and total hysteria. In the same light, the Darwinian process tends to weed out the dumb, stupid and the lazy-hopefully before they have a chance to breed and pass on their genes. Hope it was worth it The student who was making petty threats on his MySpace page has pretty much blown any chance he ever had of getting his dream job as a police officer, or in fact of scar- ing any sort of decent government job whatsoever. And I am pretty sure that he will never be allowed to carry a concealed weapon from this day forward. The man with the bullet in his leg is actually an instructor here at Clackamas. He shot himself while taking a bathroom break, claiming it was all the result of a bad firing pin or some such nonsense. Sorry, professor, but you screwed up. Anybody who knows anything about firearms knows that guns do not just gp off by themselves. You were either playing with it or were just irresponsible, stupid and careless. Don’t blame the tool for your shoddy workmanship. But what about the: ings we see on TV all I might ask. What about Red Lake, Virginia Ted Sadly, in the world person mentally unbala to commit such horribl always find a way to ta It could be with aj school, a machete at ai ing or with a suicide va Fortunately, Clackan history of being a safe There has never been: felony assault happenu grounds. We have a we highly disciplined can force and cadet corps. In feet, statistical!) mentally speaking, stud on campus, day or tui are within their own I surrounding community A. firearm is a pro deadly one that musth respect and caution. Th( es at the heart of this d respect for those fireanii weight of responsibilit) with gun ownership. If the Board of Educ to weigh in on the issue it should focus on wha best: education and trair. X The Clackamas Print The Clackamas Print 19600 S. Molalla Ave, Oregon City, OR 97045 503-657-6958, ext. 2309 Editor in Chief: Megan Koler Copy Editor: Colleen Watkins News Editor': Lydia E. Bashaw A&C Editor: Enffly Walters Sports Editor: Andrea Simpson Feature Editor: Kyle Steele Photo Editor: Kayla Berge Photo Associate: » JohnShufelt News Associate: John Hurlburt A d M anager : Meredith James P roduction A ssistant : Mallory Bashaw S taff W riters / P hotographers : .Dale Balbi, Kenton Benfield, Armondo Borboa, Helen Conley, Robert Crawford, Matthew Garrison, John Petty, Lisa Sellars, Jess Sheppard D epartment A dviser : Melissa Jones D epartment S ecretary : Pat Thompson G oals : The Clackamasf to report the news in anl unbiased, professional n The opinions expressed' necessarily reflect those« dent body college admii its faculty or The Print. I comments to chiefed@d edu.
