Vol. 155, Issue 1, Jan. 23- Feb. 5, 2013 CIty College oF san FranCIsCo | sInCe 1935 | theguardsman.Com | @sFbreakIngnews

Thick, gray storm clouds loom over City College, which threatens the existence of

an institution that serves almost 90,000 students of all ethnicities, ages, genders and backgrounds.

Older than the Golden Gate Bridge, the school has been a staple in the “City by Bay” since it opened its doors in 1935.

The school’s motto says it all, “The truth shall make you free.”

However, exactly whose “truth” will prevail remains to be seen and is proving to be divisive.

News Analysis

See: Accreditation, Page 2

By Gina Scialabba and Sara Bloomberg

news 2 | the guardsman & theguardsman.Com | Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2013

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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTING FEDERAL CRIMES (for 29 years)? by Leland Yoshitsu - Amazon • B&NNook • Sony • eBookPie 1. You are purchasing an eBook (or paperback) that contains a collection of historic and legal documents which PROVES THE FACT that the US Federal Government and a major American Corporation, NBC, have COMMITTED A NUMBER OF CRIMES AGAINST A US CITIZEN, Leland Yoshitsu, to secretly and intentionally DEFRAUD him from receiving and obtaining TRUTH AND JUSTICE.2. This is a unique documentary book that spans 29 years - an authentic ‘one-of-a-kind’ learning instrument that reveals to the public the ‘real-inner-workings’ of the US Federal Government and Corporate America (NBC).3. Do President Obama and Corporate America (NBC) have too cozy a relationship?4. Has President Obama, as the Head of Law Enforcement in the US Federal Government,“FAITHFULLY EXECUTED” THE LAWS for TRUTH, JUSTICE, and “EQUAL PROTECTION”?5. Can President Obama “PRESERVE, PROTECT, AND DEFEND” the US Constitution (Supreme Law of the Land) against Corporate America (NBC)?6. President Obama should publicly respond to all of the allegations of Crime, Cover-up, Corruption, and Obstruction of Justice that are outlined in this book to reassure the Public that the General Welfare of All the People is SAFE and SECURE as intended by the US Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and President Lincoln.7. President Obama should acknowledge His commitment to TRANSPARENCY by voluntarily making a ‘Public Statement in Good Faith’ about all the issues that He has already responded to in this book – especially, if there is a collection of documented evidence of alleged Crime, Cover-up, Corruption, and Obstruction of Justice in the US Postal Service and in the US Federal Government by Corporate America (NBC).

Just three days before spring semester began, around 200 facul-ty and students protested against unilateral salary cuts and layoffs being imposed by the administra-tion.

“They say this is about help-ing students but they’re cutting counselors,” Associated Students President Shanell Williams said at the rally on Jan. 11. “This [accredi-tation business] is a scam.”

Williams then led the crowd in chanting, “Sí se puede,” or “Yes we can” in Spanish.

The commissionThe Accrediting Commis-

sion for Community and Junior Colleges released a report in July threatening the ultimate sanc-tion of closure unless City College addresses 14 explicit recommen-dations.

The college must “show cause” why it should remain open. This “show cause report” is due this spring and the commission will render a decision in July.

The commission specifically criticized the school for spend-ing higher than average levels on salaries and benefits for all employees—92 percent of their general budget to be exact, while other community colleges in the Bay Area have figures in the low to mid 80s.

Benefits for part-time facul-ty—including so-called “freeway fliers” who work for more than one community college in the Bay Area but don’t rack up enough

hours at any single school to be considered full-time—are being questioned.

“We have part-time faculty who have been with the college three decades or more,” AFT Local 2121 President Alisa Messer said in an interview last semester. “To say those faculty are now not deserving of benefits strikes me as wrongheaded.”

The Board voted to dismantle a long-standing system of faculty leadership by sending department chairs back to the classroom and consolidating departments.

The move is supposed to save the school $2 million annu-ally, as well as streamline gover-nance. Deans will take their place. Department chairs earn annual stipends of $3,000 to $19,000 depending on the size of their departments, records show.

Faculty aren’t happy. Leslie Simon, former chair of

the Women’s Studies Department, calls it “a devastation and disinte-gration of democracy.”

Latin American and Latino Studies Chair Edgar Torres is concerned diversity depart-ments will “eventually die” under this new plan and many of his colleagues share his concern.

“The attack on the diversity departments is the first step,” Afri-can American Studies chair Tarik Farrar said at a recent board meet-ing. “When you cut back salaries and cut benefits, you turn out cheap products!”

AusterityLabeled as austerity measures,

more than 50 of the school’s 61 faculty-elected department chairs will be eliminated, while new deans are hired from out of house.

College officials insist diversi-ty courses are not in jeopardy. It is about practical resource manage-ment.

“The department chair struc-ture is costly, more costly than it needs to be and it is not as effec-tive as it ought to be. It is not about eliminating departments,” said Larry Kamer, a former spokesper-son hired by the college in May of 2012. “About a third of these departments have three or fewer full-time faculty, yet all have department chairs.”

Torres disagrees. He is reminded that diversity stud-ies came about during 1970’s in

response to student demand. A population with a “profound historical wound” whose voice was not being heard.

“If you are really concerned about enrollment management and increasing productivity, then you should be following the trends of demographics of the state, particularly the Bay Area. We should not be going the oppo-site way,” he said.

The Pew Research Center recently indicated that immi-grants arriving since 2005 and their descendents will account for 82% of U.S. population growth by 2050.

Shouldn’t the classes we offer reflect that? Let’s preserve our rich diversity, not find creative ways to abolish it.

New revenueMeasure A, passed by voters

last November, will provide the college with $16 million a year for seven years.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year allocates $376 million to the community college system. City College will receive a portion of that funding.

The college’s reserve funds are steadily climbing back up to a safe level.

With these funding sources, the school should be taken off of “show cause” and bumped up to a less severe sanction so that we can all get back to our primary mission: education.

Accreditation, from page 2

From left to right: Faculty protest salary cuts and staff layoffs outside of the Diego Rivera Theater on Jan. 11, 2012, during Inter-Chancellor Thelma Scott-Skillman’s Flex Day speech; Faculty sign petitions asking City College administrators to use Measure A funds as they were intended. Photos by Sara Bloomberg/The Guardsman.

Editor-in-ChiefSara Bloomberg

Photo EditorsLeslie CalderonSantiago Mejia

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the guardsman & theguardsman.Com | Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2013 | 3

news

news

News Briefs

Faced with competition from online retailers and a grow-ing deficit, City College-owned campus bookstores will soon be operated by a private company. City College will retain bookstore ownership.

“A massive change in the textbook marketplace” makes it “clear that by 2013 the bookstore reserves would totally erode” if nothing is done, according to a Dec. 13 resolution passed by the Board of Trustees.

The Board approved a five-year contract with Follett Higher Education Group, which will run the bookstores beginning April 2. Transferring operations from the Bookstore Auxiliary—the book-stores current operators—will begin mid-March.

The contract includes a provi-sion for yearly renewals of the agreement for up to five years and a possible contract length of ten years.

Follett is a Chicago-based company that bills itself as the nation’s first and “largest retail provider of new, used, and rental college textbooks.” According to its website, Follett has relation-ships with more than 900 college and university bookstores nation-wide, including 31 community colleges in California.

San Francisco State University and the University of San Francis-co have similar agreements with Follett.

“Running 900 stores has permitted Follett to perfect many of the innovations that the City College Bookstore has made in the developmental stages” (of the

transition), City College Book-stores General Manager Don Newton said.

Follett’s West Coast Market-ing Vice President Mary Perry said the company will retain a presence at the other campuses to provide immediacy in service so that students aren’t restricted to one location.

Currently, there are book-stores at the Chinatown, Down-town, John Adams and Mission campuses, and book rooms at Civic Center and Evans campuses.

Follett representatives are developing proposals for new looks and uses for the student retail areas as well as the layout and design of the main bookstore and annex on Ocean campus.

“It would be easier if you could buy everything in one place,” busi-ness student Kevin Khai said, regarding the two separate stores on Ocean Campus.

“I just went to visit my broth-er at (University of California) Irvine and I was actually pretty impressed by their store. The bottom floor was all books and the top floor all sweats, clothing, computers, Macs, art supplies—all the supplies you might need for class.”

A smooth transitionGreg Kiryakakis, a regional

manager for Follett, recognizes the frustrations students might encounter during the transition.

“We want to make it as seam-less as possible to make it best for the customer,” Kiryakakis said at a Jan. 11 informational forum for faculty.

Around 100 part-time tempo-rary employees work at the bookstores, including many City College students.

Follett intends to keep the same model of hiring in the future and all full-time employees are guaranteed to keep their jobs for at least one year under the new arrangement, Newton said.

“The bookstore is still locally managed,” Perry said. “At the end of the day the store manager makes the decisions.”

At the January meeting, both Follett and the Bookstore Auxil-iary promised that educators will have more choices related to ordering materials and that students will also benefit from the best deals possible.

Hitesh Soneji, interim chair of the Engineering and Technol-ogy Department, would like to see more custom-packaged books, commonly known as readers, that allow educators to compile content from various sources. Readers often cost significantly

less than a single textbook.Follett representatives said

this service would continue and could expand in the next two years. A markup for this service exists, as does a potential loss if the readers don’t sell.

“I think on the logistical side of things, there may be better accessibility to used books [under Follet],” Soneji said. He said he hopes the new company will explore different options to make textbooks more affordable for City College students.

Bookloan will stayStudents can also rent certain

textbooks free of charge through the City College Bookloan program, which buys its text-books from the bookstore.

Christine Giang, a returning economics and business student, often donates her old books to the program and thinks the bookstore has done a great job.

“I think the issue is the publishing companies,” Giang said. “They have a monopoly on textbooks.”

By Dan Harrington The Guardsman / dharrinGTon@TheGuardsman.com

A spiraling line of students wait three to four hours at the Bookloan program on Ocean for a chance to save hundreds of dollars on books in this file photo from fall 2012. Photo by Sara Bloomberg/The Guards-man

Council discusses retreat

The Ocean Campus Associat-ed Student Council met for a regu-lar meeting on Jan. 16 to discuss an upcoming student leadership and team building retreat—held Jan. 18-20—that they were plan-ning for members of the council.

“ I would like to get to know people better, and not only discuss personal goals but also the goals and struggles that City College is facing right now,” Vice Presi-dent of Communications Melanie Ortanez said at the meeting.

Other topics discussed at the meeting included organizing around the accreditation crisis and how to improve City College’s Bookloan program.

The council meets Wednes-days in the Student Union at 2:30 p.m. The meetings are open to the public.

(Cassandra Hendry)

Board sworn inHugs and kisses abounded as

people mingled and greeted one another while waiting for City College’s newly elected Board of Trustees members to be officially sworn in Jan. 7 at Ocean Campus’s Multi Use Building.

San Francisco voters elected incumbents Natalie Berg, Steve Ngo and Chris Jackson as well as newcomer Rafael Mandelman last November.

Around 60 people watched as Supervisor Carmen Chu offici-ated Berg’s oath of office, followed by state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano who officiated the oath for both Jackson and Mandel-man. Ngo was sworn in earlier that afternoon by Mayor Ed Lee at City Hall but was also present at his colleagues’ ceremony.

The entire room laughed, including Trustees Jackson and Mandelman who stood together

at the podium, when Ammiano implied that this was not a same-sex marriage ceremony. “No, Prop 8 has not been overturned,” Ammiano said, referring to Cali-fornia’s ban on same-sex marriage that was passed by voters in 2008.

During his speech, Jackson fought back tears as he described the moment that sparked his passion for activism and politics. He wanted to take an astronomy

class at City College, he said, but there weren’t enough seats for everyone.

Although the atmosphere was light-hearted and celebratory, the speakers acknowledged the diffi-cult path that City College faces as it fights to retain its accreditation over the next several months.

(Daniel Galloway)

Private company takes over bookstoreFollett won bid to manage operations

State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (left) officiates the oath of office for Trustees Rafael Mandleman and Chris Jackson (right) at a ceremony on Jan. 7, 2013 on Ocean campus. Photo by Sara Bloomberg/The Guards-man

“The bookstore is still locally managed. At the end of the day the store

manager makes the decisions.”

- Follett’s West Coast Marketing Vice President Mary Perry

4 | the guardsman & theguardsman.Com | Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2013

CultureCity College goes to Cuba

What Are Your New Year’s Resolutions?

Photo story by Matt Lambert/special to The Guardsman

Silvia RicchiardiAge: 19Major: Business

-Study more

-Have new experiences

-Travel

Mícheál MaddenAge: 21Major: Broadcast Electronic Media Arts

-Quit smoking

-Stop getting so drunk. it’s been “somewhat of a success”

-Read more

-Be a better activist

Erik DuckworthAge: 19Major: Computers

-To stay on track with school

Fred ChavariaDean of Behavioral and Social Sciences

-Take better care of per-sonal needs. “By personal needs I mean things I need to do to have person-al space. Take a walk[...], give myself half an hour to think about where I am and what I want to do. And sometimes to think about nothing.”

Chris CeciliaAge: 25Major: Computer Engineering

-Get in shape

-Spend more time with loved ones

-Do better in school

Have Your Say:

Clockwise from left: City College student Marie Suding, left, listens to City College music instructor Greg Landau, center, at an art gallery in Havana on Dec. 31, 2012. As the guidelines for small, private business in Cuba change, artists are using the opportuni-ty to open gallery space in their homes; Landau, right, shares the finer points of Youtube filmmaking on Dec. 31, 2012 with Cuban artists Angel Barzaga, center, and Samuel Riera; Jan Pang, second from left, of San Francisco, buys bananas on Dec. 29, 2012 from a street cart in Old Havana. Cuba uses two forms of currency, the national peso and the convertible peso, known as a CUC. The CUC was introduced in November 2004 as a replacement for the foreign currencies coming in with the booming tourist industry.

Counter clockwise from top: City College students learn about Babalawos, people who serve as spiritual guides in Yoruba culture, on Dec. 29, 2012; An artist at the Sociedad Grafica de Cienfuegos—a print shop which provides activities and support for children with Down’s Syndrome—works Jan. 5, 2013 on a lino-leum cut for printmaking; Students tour Sociedad Grafica de Cienfuegos on Jan. 5, 2013

the guardsman & theguardsman.Com | Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2013 | 5

City College goes to Cuba

My name is Mckenna Toston. I am a 21-year old female journalism student at City College. I work as a nanny in San Francisco, and I live in an apartment in the Sunset District with four roommates. I have embarked on a three-month journey through India. By myself.

I’m doing it for the change in perspective. For the chal-lenge. For the thrill. For the story. And for the opportunity to spread my love to the chil-dren at an orphanage called “Blossom” in Virudhunagar, South India.

I heard about Blossom through an organization called the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It connects travelers with volunteer oppor-tunities around the world, primarily on organic farms.

When I applied to volun-teer at Blossom, I planned to work on the farm. But when they told me they also ran an orphanage, I asked if there was space to work with the chil-dren. I start in mid-February and plan to stay there for 3 weeks. There are 22 children on

site, and I will be teaching them basic education, like reading and writing.

My plane landed in New Delhi on Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. local time. Until recently, New Delhi—India’s capital with a population of roughly 13 million—wasn’t on my radar.

Then, a few weeks ago, when a local female medical student was gang raped, beaten and robbed on a bus, ultimately succumbing to her injuries less than two weeks later, I was forced to face reality.

I am about to travel in a country—all alone and a woman—where rape and other forms of sexual harassment are seldom punished.

This is my experience as a solo female traveling in India—the day-to-day differences, the good, the bad, the inspiring, the frustrating and the down-right confusing.

All I’ve brought with me is a backpack, three pairs of clothes, a sleeping bag, towel, some toiletries, my NetBook laptop and $600. And, of course, my acoustic guitar.

Here goes!

Photo story by Matt Lambert/special to The Guardsman

The Chutney ExpressA new column about one woman’s

travels through India

Formal name:

Republic of India

Official Sanskrit name:

Bharat

Location:

Southern Asia

Shares borders with:

Pakistan, China, Ne-pal, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh

Total Population:

Around 1.2 billion

Capital:

New Delhi

President:

Pranab Mukherjee

Prime Minister:

Manmohan Singh

Most commonly spo-ken languages:

English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil

Most popular reli-gions:

Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikh-ism, Buddhism, Jain-ism

Famous people:

Siddhartha Gauta-ma, Mohandas Gan-dhi, Indira Gandhi, Ravi Shankar, Van-dana Shiva

Won independence from Britain:

1947

Monetary unit:

Rupee

sources: CIA World Factbook, Library of Congress, http://www.britannica.com

Quick Facts: India

Clockwise from left: City College student Marie Suding, left, listens to City College music instructor Greg Landau, center, at an art gallery in Havana on Dec. 31, 2012. As the guidelines for small, private business in Cuba change, artists are using the opportuni-ty to open gallery space in their homes; Landau, right, shares the finer points of Youtube filmmaking on Dec. 31, 2012 with Cuban artists Angel Barzaga, center, and Samuel Riera; Jan Pang, second from left, of San Francisco, buys bananas on Dec. 29, 2012 from a street cart in Old Havana. Cuba uses two forms of currency, the national peso and the convertible peso, known as a CUC. The CUC was introduced in November 2004 as a replacement for the foreign currencies coming in with the booming tourist industry.

Clockwise from top: A billboard in Cienfuegos reads “in every neighborhood, revolution.” Jan. 5, 2013; A bicycle taxi driver waits for a fare on Jan. 7, 2013 in the central plaza of Havana. Despite the easy access to education, the most lucrative careers are those that put workers in contact with tourists; A pre-1959 Ford parked on the street outside the Sociedad Grafica de Cienfuegos on Jan. 5, 2013. Following the Cuban revolution, the United States cut off all trade with the island. Mechanics have lovingly kept the island’s large fleet of such cars running but new parts are virtually impossible to obtain.

Clockwise from top left: A drummer with Hijos de Santa Barbara plays at a ceremony in Palmi-ra on Jan. 4, 2013. The musical style is a blend of Yoruba and Catholic traditions, which was used by slaves to disguise the African roots in their music from slave masters; Drummers at the Casino Congo play congos during a Palo Monte ceremony in Lajas on Jan. 4, 2013; A devotee with the Hijos de Santa Barbara dances in the role of Ochun—the master of femininity and love. She is one of the primary characters in the Yoruba pantheon.

Counter clockwise from top: City College students learn about Babalawos, people who serve as spiritual guides in Yoruba culture, on Dec. 29, 2012; An artist at the Sociedad Grafica de Cienfuegos—a print shop which provides activities and support for children with Down’s Syndrome—works Jan. 5, 2013 on a lino-leum cut for printmaking; Students tour Sociedad Grafica de Cienfuegos on Jan. 5, 2013

6 | the guardsman & theguardsman.Com | Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2013

Culture

Video: San FranciSco goeS nutS aFter giantS Sweep the world SerieS From tigerS on oct. 28: youtube.com/bloomreportS

Go see “Zero Dark Thirty.” You know you want to. All your friends are already doing it.

Everyone is talking about it. Calif. Sen. Diane Feinstein

is talking about it. She wants an investigation into the CIA’s contri-butions to the film.

Anti-torture protesters are talking about it. They’re standing outside theaters, demanding U.S. accountability.

Friends and colleagues are talking about it. They want to know whether CIA agent Maya, portrayed by the passionately convincing Jessica Chastain, is based upon a real or composite character.

Finally, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Scienc-es is talking about it. They just nominated it for Best Picture of the Year.

So, what’s all the hype? How has this little reel of celluloid with a cryptic title and cast of rela-tive unknowns, save Chastain, suddenly attracted international acclaim and criticism?

Part of the “hype” is personal. The movie follows a decade

of living history in this country that has touched all our lives. Who doesn’t remember where they were when the World Trade Center collapsed?

The film, directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow of “The Hurt Locker” fame, revolves around one simple fact: Bin Laden is dead. That’s common knowl-edge.

Yet the events leading up to his capture and ultimate demise are still largely unknown. Bigelow attempts to give viewers the true

back story behind the raid, and how the CIA connected the dots that eventually led them to the target.

Bin Laden wasn’t holed up in a dusty cave community, a C-4 explosive belt strapped to his gaunt body awaiting American “infidels.”

The most hated man in the world, responsible for the murder of over 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks, was killed May 2, 2011, by U.S. Navy Seals in the middle of Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Bin Laden was surrounded by women and children. Tribal elders and loyal lieges were not by his side, ready to complete their “Jihad.”

His assassins, “the canar-ies,” came quietly in the night, or rather loudly if you follow the film’s version of events, including a helicopter dramatically crashing in the terrorist’s front yard.

Astonishingly, his hiding place was a large compound in a subur-ban city of one million people, less than a mile away from Pakistan’s equivalent to West Point.

Did I just give away the end of the movie? Hardly.

Everyone knows how this story ends. It is not the end of Bigelow’s movie that grips us so much as the murky details leading up to one somewhat anticlimatic death.

Bin Laden was shot and killed before the Seals knew it was him.

Bigelow masterfully plays this period out in a slow, methodi-cal way. Most of the movie takes place in CIA offices and cubicles. Suspense builds bit by sordid bit.

Her account of Bin Laden’s pursuit and capture is vivid and takes the viewer onto the front lines of this mission.

But, how accurate is it? Bigelow has clearly stated

she and screenwriter Mark Boal consulted with the CIA in making the movie. So, is this CIA propa-ganda masquerading as semific-tion?

You be the judge. The most chilling scenes come

at you immediately. The movie opens with a black

screen and voices from the victims trapped in the twin towers. An emotional tug at our heartstrings.

It then moves into 45 minutes of torture scenes involving water-boarding, a human dog collar and a combination of physical and psychological abuse.

Only after the detainee is threatened with more torture does he divulge the name of Bin Laden’s personal courier.

Was this type of brutal torture necessary for us to locate the elusive Bin Laden? The movie seems to say yes.

Feinstein, Sen. John McCain and others call the film “mislead-ing” in its depiction of the graphic and brutal torture techniques to make “enemy combatants” talk.

Others are convinced the waterboarding scenes are indica-tive of a United States that sees torture as necessary for its own defense.

Despite all the controversy, this is an important movie that is sparking a serious dialogue about torture in American wartime policies.

If you go, be prepared for a linear view of the good guys (read: Americans) and the bad guys (anyone not-American), as well as a lack of any meaningful discus-sion about the Muslim world.

San Francisco has long been regarded as one of the great food capitals of the world,

but what many who live, work or go to school in the city do not realize is that some of the best food cost no more than the grub at any neighborhood 7-11 or take-out joint.

Here’s a quick tour.Lucca Delicatessen, located

at 2120 Chestnut St., has been a mainstay of the Cow Hollow and Marina Districts since 1929.

Elegant though cramped, Lucca’s interior is stacked to the ceiling with an overwhelming inventory of meats, cheeses, olive oils, pastas, gourmet condiments and other delights.

Wicker baskets can be packed and taken to the nearby Crissy Field, Exploratorium or Marina Green for a perfect picnic.

Don’s Lucca sandwich is the star of the Lucca line-up. A circu-lar-shaped Italian roll stuffed with cheese, lettuce, peppers, mustard, mayo and “seven or eight” differ-ent meats, according to one Lucca sandwich maker, the nearly three-inch high sandwich is too good to be true for the carnivorous connoisseur. The $9.99 sandwich serves four.

The $5.99 half sandwich serves two. Mangia!

Other out-of-this world sand-wiches are made to order at Saigon Sandwiches. Located at 560 Larkin St. in the Tenderloin District, this stripped-down, marvel take-out place is on par with fine dining restaurant, Slanted Door, which serves the best Vietnamese food in the greater Bay Area.

Even better, Saigon Sand-wiches is located just a block-and-a-half away from City College’s Civic Center campus!

Saigon serves eight different types of sandwiches only—five banh mi sandwiches and three thit cha sandwiches—on simple rolls with various combinations of chicken, pork and pate.

All of these well grounded meats are seasoned to maximum deliciousness. Fresh lettuce, pick-led vegetables and cilantro also contribute to the explosion of flavor felt with every bite.

Pate as a sandwich meat seemed odd at first. However, Vietnam was a French colony for

decades, pate must be one of the lasting vestiges of that time to be found the Southeast Asian nation’s now-traditional cuisine.

Saigon’s sandwich price range is hard to believe at $3.50 to $4.00. That’s it—no tax!

The no-tax trend was also evident at El Castillito, located at 2092 Mission St.—just five blocks north of City College’s Mission campus—which features a spare dining room with a single string of green and white lights and wood-framed prints of Mexican scenes.

El Castillito’s extensive taque-ria menu includes six fish dishes, menudo and the usual assortment of burritos, tacos and other basics of Mexican taqueria fare.

The salsa bar features three types of salsa and marinated peppers, fresh carrots and oranges sit on a counter behind the salsa bar, ready to be squeezed into jugos naturales.

Tortillas are sold on the side for $1 each, a vegetarian taco costs $2.25 and a well-stuffed chorizo super burrito costs $6.90 and can easily be stretched out over two meals. Olé!

For dessert, Bi-Rite Creamery is a few blocks away at 3692 18th St. near Dolores Park.

Bi-Rite features baked goods, ice cream (including soft-serve), popsicles, four types of chocolate sauce-in-a-bottle and even a Hey Boo brand coconut jam.

Popsicles sell for $2.25 and kid-size cones (one scoop, one flavor) for $2.50.

Daily soft serve specials are displayed on the creamery’s side-walk sandwich board and has recently featured salted-caramel-and-coffee Mondays and pump-kin-and-vanilla Thursdays.

Seating is limited inside the creamery, so there is usually quite a kids-of-all-ages scene in

front. Customers can sit on U-shaped wooden seats right outside.

Lucca Delicatessen2120 Chestnut St.

Cow Hollow

Saigon Sandwiches560 Larkin St.

Tenderloin

Bi-Rite Creamery3692 18th St.

Mission

Sights and Sounds:Even for the frugal minded, San Francisco is a foodie’s heaven

The Hunt for Bin Laden through Hollywood’s eyes

By Alex Reyes The Guardsman / areyes@TheGuardsman.com

By Gina Scialabba The Guardsman / Gscialabba@TheGuardsman.com

Image Courtesy of mCt Campus

Running Time : 157 minutes

Genre: Thriller/Action/Drama

U.S. Release Date: Jan. 11, 2013

MPAA Rating: R

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow

Screenplay written by: Mark Boal

Stars:Jessica ChastainChris PrattJoel Edgerton

If you go... About the title:

“Zero Dark Thirty” is military jargon for the dark of night, as well as the moment—12:30 a.m.—when the Navy Seals first stepped foot on the compound.

Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

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the guardsman & theguardsman.Com | Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2013 | 7

opInIon

letters to the editorLetters to the editor must be under 250 words and may be edited for content. Send letters to: editor@theguardsman.com

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In a crisis, lines are drawn. This is inevitable in a time of conflict. We are in such a time at City College.

The Accrediting Commis-sion for Community and Junior Colleges is threatening to shut us down, sending shock waves throughout the region.

Around the state, people are telling us, “If they can take you down, they can take us all down.”

What does this mean, and what are the main responses to the commission’s threat?

There have mainly been two.The commission says we

mismanaged our finances, pay our part-time teachers too much and take too long to make decisions.

This criticism has been repeat-ed by the commission, the state financial team that advised us, the Special Trustee who now has veto power over our elected Board, the interim chancellors and the San Francisco Chronicle. These groups demand that we lower our labor costs, hire more administra-tors and give them more power.

The administration bargain-ing team wants to eradicate the chairs, leaving mega-deans to

run multiple departments. They imposed the third wage cut in recent years on the faculty and laid off over thirty classified staff.

A second line of response to the commission says we need to make changes, but good ones. Tracking teaching and learning better, streamlining governance, improving financial management – many in the college are working hard to reform in these ways.

A different responseHowever, this second group

opposes bad changes. At pres-ent it includes the Department Chair Counsel, the faculty union, AFT 2121, the Save City College Coalition supported by the San Francisco Labor Council, and community ally Jobs With Justice among others.

Here is what we in this group think:

Led by former Chancellor Don Griffin, in recent years we made a well-managed tactical retreat in response to $50 million in budget cuts. We downsized, took pay cuts, endured staff reductions and crowded classrooms to preserve our core function. Even the commission says we succeeded here, doing a good job of teaching and learning.

The commission is out of step with similar groups around the

country, penalizing upwards of 30% of the schools it assesses as opposed to 5% elsewhere. Their usual solution to budget cuts–hire more high-priced administrators.

Despite leadership opposi-tion, the students and staff, along with our union and community allies, took our case to the voters

last fall and won their support. For the next eight years, voter-

approved Proposition 30 and Measure A will bring in about $20 million a year.

With more money coming in, the administration should add classes, reduce crowding and rehire the workers who counsel, instruct, clean the rooms and protect our students.

The commission and its allies took control of the Board and are paying a Special Trustee $1,000 a day. Every six days, that’s enough money to fund another class. It’s time to give the taxpayers back their Board.

Our homegrown deans know our school and the communi-ties we serve. They may soon be replaced by another group of high-paid outsiders. They need our support.

The Department Chairs are elected faculty leaders who know their subjects and students well, and are more productive than a dean with little knowledge of multiple departments would be.

The attack on the DCC is union busting and could destroy the Diversity Departments. It must be opposed.

It’s good that our part-time teachers earn a living wage and that we have a high proportion of full-time faculty who can be here for our students. We should support AFT 2121 as they defend our teachers.

Our classified staff and their union, SEIU 1021, are under attack and are enduring understaffing and huge workload increases.

Their co-workers should be rehired.

Community McCollege?As a labor educator, the

Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges strategy looks to me a lot like that pursued by WalMart and other low-road employers.

Do we want an underpaid, understaffed workforce swim-ming against the tide in their struggle to instruct and support?

Or do we want good student-teacher ratios and a decently paid, productive workforce college?

Can we keep the community in our community college or will we be forced to become a McCol-lege, a wholly owned subsidiary of the commission and the standard-ized testing companies?

Spring semester 2013 will be a crucial time in the history of our school.

Our students are mobilizing, our unions are mobilizing, our friends around the state are mobi-lizing.

The commission must restore us to the fully accredited status we deserve.

The administration must use the voters’ money for our students and those who serve them.

Join the Save City College Coalition and help us keep the door to the future open for our students and the city we love.

Now that the holidays are over, and a new semester has started, it is slowly becoming clear that our school is in a state of discourage-ment.

As I write this, our school is on the verge of having to ask for more time to meet the requirements—others like to call them “recom-mendations”—imposed by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

The commis-sion has not been shy about paint-ing a vivid picture of the possible outcomes for the school—including closure. With the threat of accred-itation being pulled, changes are beginning to be implemented.

Changes that many people are resisting, including a unilaterally imposed 8.8 percent pay cut for faculty and staff layoffs.

Although voters recently approved Proposition A—a parcel tax that will net City College around $16 million annually for seven years—the school’s special trustee Bob Agrella recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that “college officials want to use the money to shore up the school’s dangerously low reserves and to pay pension obligations.”

But would voters have approved Proposition A had they known that officials would spend the money on pensions?

It’s hard to say, but in the end everyone might asking, “What will happen to the money from Proposition A if City College’s accreditation actually gets taken away?

Whether City College is too big to fail remains to be seen, but considering it’s not a big financial institution that the government is willing to swoop in and save, only time will tell.

It’s odd to that the government would bail out the makers of the Chrysler Laser and Chrysler Stratus, but let one of the largest community colleges in the coun-try fail.

Sure, it’s not always about the money, but in this case, yes, it is all about money. Money the school does not have, but money none-theless.

On the bright side, City College only has to pay Agrella $1000 a day.

Everyone should make the most of this semester, because we might all be attending Laney College next semester.

Accreditation Crisis Heats Up, Staff and Students Mobilizeby Bill ShieldsChair, Labor and Community Studies

City College is falling apart and no-one is going to bail us outBy Patrick Tamayo The Guardsman

Sure, it’s not always about the money,

but in this case, yes, it is all about money.

The attack on the Department Chair

Council is union busting and could

destroy the Diversity

Departments. It must be opposed.

Courtesy of mCt Campus

the guardsman & theguardsman.Com | Jan. 23- Feb. 5, 2013 | 8

sports

By Zack Tobita The Guardsman / zTobiTa@TheGuardsman.com

By Dan Harrington The Guardsman / dharrinGTon@TheGuardsman.com

City College added another win to their undefeated record in a 86-64 victory on Jan. 18 against the Cañada Colts in Redwood City.

It was a back and forth game early on and midway through the first half Rams sophomore guard Delon Wright asserted himself and led the team on a run going into the second half with a score of 43-29.

After the break, the Rams exposed Cañada’s lack of size and inability to break the aggressive press from the Ram’s defense.

The Rams played at an uptem-po pace and got to the foul line.

Freshman guard Dulani Robinson’s strong shooting, combined with the Rams’ impres-sive defense and balanced offen-sive attacks, put the Rams up by 28 points only minutes away from

the end of regulation.

Rowdy CrowdThroughout the game, the

crowd was clearly upset by some calls as they heckled the officials.

Frustration boiled over when Cañada’s sophomore guard Colin Wan flung his arms in the air and had some choice words for an official that called him for a tech-nical foul with 8:11 left.

With a comfortable margin through the entire second half, Ram’s sophomore forward/center Gabriel Aguirre was able to rest and not see heavy minutes.

“We had a a couple things scouted and we just wanted to stay focused” Aguirre said.

With 5:45 left in the game, Wright got a steal and finished the breakaway with a two-handed flush that summed up the Ram’s dominance throughout the game.

“We wanted to be sharp and efficient. We played really sloppy

against Chabot [on Jan. 16]. We wanted to come out a lot tougher [this game] and I think we did,” Rams Head Coach Justin Labagh said. “But we didn’t shoot it well tonight from the three and free throw line.”

Wright, the reigning North Coast Conference player of the year, is optimistic about the rest of the season.

“We wanted to play sharp,” Wright said. “We’re taking it one game at a time and just trying to finish the season undefeated.”

The Rams have eight games left until the playoffs begin on Feb 27.

Wright, the younger broth-er of Philadelphia 76er Dorell Wright, is playing his last season for City College as he will be joining the University of Utah’s basketball team next semester.

The Rams will host the Skyline Trojans Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.

A new season, and perhaps a new age of fundamentally-sound playing, is here for the women’s softball team.

Last year’s team completed the slate and kept the sport alive for the Rams but didn’t score any wins, and the new team is anxious to get its first win early.

Their first four games will take place on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26., and head coach Jack McGuire is optimistic about their potential.

“Softball, I’d say, has gotten better,” McGuire said. “In other areas they are starting younger. Not so much here [in San Fran-cisco]. The longer you play it, the better you get. In this sport, it’s tough to teach somebody how to play at this level.”

McGuire has a unique perspective on the team, the

conference and the athletic picture. He was in charge of the softball program for two years in the 1990s and is now entering the third season of his second run as head coach.

The rosterSophomore Cristina Manjivar

may be the most unique player in college softball this year. She’ll get starts at shortstop despite being a left-handed thrower.

“She covers more ground than any other player,” McGuire said of the former Archbishop Mitty and San Jose State outfield-er-first baser. “I overruled the normal logic and decided she starts there. She can do the job.”

Sophomore Natalie Viola was pressed into service as the starting pitcher for much of last

season. For her efforts in 2012, Viola

was named a second-team all-Coast Conference utility player and will move back to catch-ing pitcher this season, in addi-tion to seeing some time at first and third, where she began last season.

Two other returnees hail from two of San Francisco’s better high school programs. Sophomores Jamie Hom and Lauren Bell will log innings in the outfield, after representing George Washing-ton and Sacred Heart Cathedral, respectively.

Freshmen Jesyka Erredia, Kaitlin Blando and Alishia Beat-ty are among first-year player names McGuire has learned how to spell for use on the City College lineup cards. Freshmen

Alexis Cortez and Shelby Borofka are anticipated to share the bulk of the pitching duties for the new-look squad.

The coachesThey’ll be mentored by third-

year Rams pitching coach Scott Perdatto. Conditioning coach Colleen McGuire, outfield coach Jimmy Collins and infield coach Mike Uland round out the staff.

“We’re going to have the abil-ity to intermix our players and show our versatility, good hands and quickness to the bases,” Uland said, who is also in his third year with the program. “We have terrific double play combi-nations with depth at third base, short and second base.”

The Rams will need to limit big innings from their opponents

in order to stay competitive and take advantage of their speed on defense and the basepaths.

“We’re not real big, but we run pretty well,” McGuire said. “It will be a challenge, but it will be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”

With formidable tasks ahead in state powers Ohlone and San Mateo, and a multitude of solid rosters in conference, the Mission College Tournament will be a good primer.

Game dayThe Rams have two games

each day, on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26. They will take on Santa Rosa Junior College, West Valley, Los Medanos and will host for one game each.

Women’s Softball Preview

Men’s Basketball

New players bring hope to a struggling team

Rams maintain undefeated record

Images Courtesy of mCt Campus