Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2011)
Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011 The Clackamas Print 3 into ion: race coveted asses; sign js begin ?xt week By Mandie Gavitt Associate News Editor that time of the term again. With most mid- over, it is time to start dreaming of what ¡to take next term. Spring registration opens I. 22 for returning students and March 1 for ¡¡dents. dng out new classes can often be the most ig part of the term for students. Student e Ochoa said she was excited to sign up for isses and had already decided she would take ;ed piano because she finished beginning this term. Other students pick their classes off their degree requirements. ¡ever, if other students should find it difficult ide which classes to take there are ways to Ip making the decision. According to Miguel ¡as, an adviser on campus, students who are ling to decide which courses to take can make ising appointment. This way, an adviser can du decide which classes to take based on your ither question that many returning students ave is whether or not the computer system lii again this term. The Clackamas registra- Courseses such as Thomas Wasson’s computer graphics class tend to fill up fast. By registering early, students can be better able to reserve their spot in the core classes and electives they may want. tion website is notorious for crashing at midnight the day of registration when everyone logs into their accounts in an attempt to get those ever-elusive popular classes that fill up even before the sun rises. In the past it has frustrated many students trying to register. “When the system is down, it needs to be improved,” said Ochoa. “I would advise that students not get online right at 12 and instead wait 15 minutes,” said Tara Sprehe, the Clackamas registrar. She said that unless a student is concerned their class will fill up in the first 15-20 minutes, they should just wait. “If the system crashes for one person it crashes for everybody,” she said. According to Sprehe, the college is exploring new options, but if changes are made they will not happen until summer term. “We try not to do any thing new until summer,” said Sprehe. “Every time you change something it is hard to get communica tion out there.” For students who go to register for classes only to find the class they want is full, there are still options. They can be put on the waitlist if there is a one for the class or show up to the class the first day and see if the teacher will be willing to sign them into the course. Also, students hoping to get in to a course should continue to check the website as it is always possible that a student may drop the class, leaving an open seat. “If the class is full, don’t give up hope,” said Cardenas. Whatever classes students are deciding to take this term, whether they need to rush to the computer at midnight or they can wait until the next morning, registration is coming up soon and it is time to start making that sometimes easy, sometimes difficult decision about what classes to take next term. F: Board members, attendees whipped into frenzy Continued from Page 1 1 board chair Richard Oathes absent, vice- ane Reid was in charge of the meeting, a first i. As the board prepared to leave to take a ithe call center, Tara Darris, wife of political t instructor Dean Darris, interjected that the was trying to avoid an issue from the previous i a concerned citizen and I was under the Bion that this meeting was starting at 5:30 that we may voice our concerns for what took It the last meeting. And now I’m concerned »’re trying to avoid the situation,” said Darris, concerned citizen that pays taxes, I want to my opinion and I want it to be heard.” ns was trying to confront the board as to lie specific testimony last month from student Brown did not appear in the minutes of the ms meeting. Brown gave testimony last month lhad talked to both the college administration c college senate about alleged slander against linstructors on campus. He did not specify any Mrs. hs continued to interrupt several times during »ting and vice-chair Reid had to continually I her that the citizen’s comments were sched- 16:45 p.m. After the meeting several students, low Darris through her husband, said that they Spalled and disgusted with how she was treat- let when the board returned, Reid commented nature of the citizen’s comments portion of feting. 'available for anyone who desires to speak on Wore the board. To ensure consistent treat fee board requires that comments from the Se sheet be signed in. The form indicates that •Ms are limited to three minutes, and respect aeration is expected for all comments and hal personnel issues or concerns must not be M in a general public meeting,” said Reid. • then altered the agenda and pushed the ls comments portion of the meeting forward, ¡this portion students such as Mario Smith came to the defense of Darris, demanding an apol ogy from Reid and warning that the board’s behavior threatened their position. “Many of you on the board and in the audience were responding to her in a manner that is highly disrespectful to a member of your community,” said Smith. “And if that is how you want to conduct yourselves in the presence of someone who has a grievance, then we are going to seek our grievances through elections. Because tonight, as I’ve seen, you don’t hold us with the respect that we’re due as citi zens of this community.” Board member Ron Adams addressed his feelings on the matter of respect. “I’ve been in legislature, I’ve run meetings; they tend to go to hell quickly if there’s not mutual respect. And I guarantee that I will respect you at least as much as you respect me. So it’s a two way street,” he said. Later in the meeting the student’s public display of disapproval further continued as student Stephanie Halstead came up to address unprofessional conduct and demanded an apology from president Truesdell. “When you were leaving for your tour I was speak ing from the ‘peanut gallery,’ and ... you decided that an inappropriate and offensive hand gesture was the way you would like to respond to me speaking, particularly when you flipped me off. I am wonder ing, is that something you do often?” Truesdell said that she was “taken aback” by the comment and denied the allegation both during and after the meeting. The meeting was hot all about addressing the character flaws of others, though. Robert Brown, a veteran and CCC student, asked the board how much debt the school has from previous bonds and loans, how much of the $130 million bond is for infrastruc ture upgrades and why and for what the college has earmarked $20 million of the bond. “It’s important to understand whether you have other bonds in place because that means we have a debt from previous years that’s unpaid, 'and now you want to saddle us with another $130 million,” said Brown. “If you have too many dollars that you’re worried about, you can’t worry about the student’s education. And we can’t forget that bur reason for being here as a student is not money, it’s not roofs and things of this sort, it’s classrooms.” Brown did hot receive an answer but was told that it would be best if he submitted a written inquiry so the board and the administration could prepare a response to accurately answer his questions. This response was repeated several times during the night, and several people asked why their questions were not being answered and why these meetings were not a place for dialogue. “We are not the managers of the place,” said Adams. “We hire the managers and we let them man age. If we hear something that sounds like it’s not being managed, then we will ask why. But we’re not going to get in a dialogue in a public forum.” Truesdell commented that the monthly board meetings are business meetings and not necessarily a place for dialogue with the board or board individu als, and that citizen comments were usually about the board’s business. Reid was very surprised on how much conflict there suddenly was at the meeting. “In my four years on the board I have not encoun tered anything like this,” said Reid. “I’ve never been at a board meeting where there were any kinds of outbursts that we experienced, so it was a real chal lenge to be sharing it and then having to deal with it. I wanted to make sure that people felt like what they said was respected but also knew ... what the limits of our abilities to comment are.” After the meeting, Halstead and others felt that the board’s decision to not comment on the questions asked was ridiculous. “If these people are supposed to be representing us and we need to go talk to their representatives to talk to them, I feel that is contradictory on many levels,” said Halstead. “If they are our representatives then we shouldn’t have to go talk to their secretaries.” Both sides in this meeting made it clear that they felt very strongly about their views, whether it be a need for structured, civil comments or the right to confront representatives directly in an open forum.
