Spring 2014, Issue 23

Prisoners find ‘Kindred’ spirit Page 5

Volume 71, Issue 23

Single copy free - additional copies 50 cents

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

www.elaccampusnews.com

Bringing

May Revise gives money to education

Prestige

Ivan Cazares Staff Writer

Getty awards $150,000 to Vincent Price Art Museum Jesus Figueroa Staff Writer The Vincent Price Art Museum is the only community college museum to have received a total of $150,000 in grants from the Getty foundation to participate in the “Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA.” The VPAM will use the grants for researching and planning an exploration of Latin American and Latino art. The grants are among $5 million worth of grants announced by the Getty. “The grants were very competitive. The applications were

due in September and we were notified in December,” VPAM Director Karen Rapp said. Two exhibits will open in 2017 at the VPAM in collaboration with the Getty and UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center. “Pacific Standard Time LA/ LA: Laura Aguilar Retrospective” will be researched and developed with a $50,000 grant. Aguilar, East Los Angeles College alumna, uses portraitures in documenting social groups who are typically marginalized in mainstream culture. Many of Aguilar’s photographic series are autobiographical,

exploring her bi-national Mexican American identity. The exhibition will trace the development of Aguilar’s work, from early themes to more recent self-portraits that explores the boundaries between the body and iconic landscapes in the American Southwest. It is also one of the few projects funded by the Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time: L.A/.L.A.” initiative dedicated to representing the career of a solo female artist.

VPAM Continued on page 5

Accreditation standards bring changes to school policies Maegan Ortiz Staff Writer East Los Angeles College will need to comply with new standards proposed by The Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). The ACCJC is a branch of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges dealing specifically with accreditation for community and junior colleges. The ACCJC sets standards of compliance which all schools must meet in order to be fully accredited. This ensures access to federal aid and grants. The new standards are still

News Briefs

going through a vetting process, but ELAC History Professor and Faculty Accreditation Chair Barbara Dunsheath expects them to pass unchanged in late June. “The proposed standards are actually minor variations of standards that have been in place since 2002. It’s not like the commission totally rewrote them,” Dunsheath said. The standards are in the area of student outcomes, academic quality, institutional effectiveness and continuous improvement of student learning and achievement. Accreditation is an opportunity for ELAC to reflect on what worked and what can be done to

No classes

improve the school. The process begins with an internal peer review process – a self-study that allows for reflection on where the college is in terms of compliance, and where it needs to go. ELAC has been working toward this since 2003, when a recommendation was made to accelerate the compliance process. “According to their (ACCJC) timeline we had 10 years. That 10year period is over and I believe that the commission will hold us accountable if we are not in compliance,” Dunsheath said. An accreditation team is scheduled to visit ELAC in 2016.

School will be closed on Monday in celebration of Memorial Day and Tuesday a non-instructional day.

The biggest issue, according to Dunsheath, is Learning Outcomes, which must be in place for 100 percent of classes and programs, written on all syllabi and regularly assessed. “We (ELAC) are not at 100 percent and there is a significant difference to cause concern,” Dunsheath said. She said that clear outcomes are part of good educational planning and should be part of an instructor’s class design. That way instructors know what the take-aways from their classes are and how to measure them. When a school is not in compliance with accreditation

Corrections

standards, progressive discipline is put into place. Usually the ACCJC starts with a warning to the school, probation, show cause and finally pulling accreditation. In June 2005 the ACCJC pulled Compton Community College’s accreditation, causing the school to be absorbed by the larger El Camino Community College District. Dunsheath feels that ELAC overall is in good shape despite not being fully in compliance. “Sometimes accreditation gets a bad name but they (the ACCJC) are just trying to get you to be a good school,” she said.

Cristina Berumen, Matthew Luna, John Muñoz, and Hugo Narvaez’s names were misspelled in the staff box last week.

A slowly recovering economy and a strong stock market have made it easier for the state to pay off some of its debt and direct more money back to education. Governor Brown released a revised version of his proposed budget for 2014-2015 last Wednesday. Brown announced an increase of $10,852,427 from last year’s budget. He proposed a total budget of $156,152,434 and set aside $12,877,279 for higher education. In a letter addressed to California Senate and the Assembly, Brown said, “With a decade of intractable deficits behind us, California is poised to take advantage of the recovering economy and the tens of thousands of jobs now being created each month.” The 2014‑15 budget continues California’s investment in schools by providing $10 billion this year to give students a better chance to succeed. The Senate must review the proposed budget and come to a decision by June 15 and the Governor needs to sign by June 30. Education and establishing a fiscally responsible budget are among Brown’s top priorities. Brown’s spending plan includes $1.6 million as emergency reserve. This is the first time the state will be able to deposit money in its emergency reserve since 2007. The East Los Angeles College Budget Committee is not sure how ELAC will benefit from the state’s May Revise, since it has not been approved. The budget committee considers a number of things to be a part of student success, including the number of students who graduate from ELAC. Increasing the number of students that graduate is the college’s top priority. Community colleges are of great value to the state of California and are the state’s most cost effective system of education. Some of Brown’s critics believe the price tag on his plan is too high. In an article on the latimes. com, George Skelton said that there is a degree of hypocrisy, contradiction and denial in Brown’s plan. He suggested the governor is focusing too much on Obamacare and is neglecting issues like public transportation. Another recession can potentially lead to a huge loss of revenue. Basic programs, including public education, have suffered budget cuts due to a budget that relies heavily on the stock market. Brown believes the state’s rainy day fund is the answer to this problem.

Last issue of the spring 2014 semester This week’s issue is the final issue of the spring 2014 semester. The next issue will be in fall 2014. For more news and the upcoming film “A Million Ways to die in the West” contest visit elaccampusnews.com.