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.