The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, February 18, 1994 Page: 2 of 10
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Opinion
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The Ranger • Feb. 18, 1994
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Viewpoint by Alison Sutton
College needs re-orientation
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Misguided plans
Poor execution ruins good intentions
I know where all the buildings are. I
Letters
Don’t forget ‘fascist’
Editor:
Poor judgment
Burgos blames student for poor decision
Attack the issue
< Editor.
Nursing requires effort
Editor
Burgos says ‘misquote’
Dress code
Editor
Editor
Bravo, Bailey
Editor
President
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Editor's note: The Ranger stands by its reporting.
Letters policy
Daniel De La Rosa
Sophomore Nursing Major
When Jesse Castillo chose to respond to the
satiric letter of Professor John Igo by attacking
the integrity of this "saint" of our English
department, Mr. Castillo fell deeply into the
abyss of ad hominem reasoning.
As most freshman composition students
know, ad hominem is attacking the man
instead of the issue.
Mr. Castillo, please attack the issue.
That is your right and your privilege, but
do not attack the integrity of Professor John
Igo. Every day of his life Igo proves his
commitment to fairness, honesty and the
highest ideals.
All of us would do well to follow in his
footsteps.
I am writing in response to Jesse Castillo's
personal attack on me in the Feb. 11 issue of
The Ranger for championing standards
regardless of ethnicity.
He forgot "fascist."
Thank you for publishing his letter. It
demonstrates two points: that, as always, your
editorial stance is objective and that you enjoy
humor as much as I do.
Janice U. Clayton
Professor of English
John Igo
Professor of English
The Ranger invites readers to share
their views by writing letters to the
editor. Space limitations have forced
the editors to restrict letters to two
double-spaced, typewritten pages.
Letters of greater length may be
edited.
Letters should be mailed to the Jour-
nalism/Photography area of the De-
partment of Mass Communications,
San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro
Ave., San Antonio, Texas 78212-4299
or brought to the newspaper office in
Room 208 of Loftin Student Center.
All letters must be signed by the
writer and include the writer's tele-
phone number and Social Security
number.
Alison Sutton
News Editor
I have this response to Roger Bailey's letter
of Feb. 4: bravo, encore, amen!
Margaret Cadena
Sophomore Undecided Major >
Carol C. Reposa
Professor of English
If the situation our Hispanic
female president finds herself in is
any indication of the treatment
minorities can expect from this
district, recruiting could be tough.
A misguided plan for preferential
hiring practices was disturbing
enough to practically everyone for a
variety of reasons — not the least of
which was the potential for dis-
crimination lawsuits.
Dr. Ruth Burgos-Sasscer made no
complaint of misquotation after
changes in hiring practices were
reported in the Jan. 28 issue of The
Ranger.
Incredulous at the implications of
her pronouncement, The Ranger
staff offered her a chance to
"clarify" in the Feb. 4 issue.
Could she really mean what she
said?
Again she freely announced that
not only would minorities be
offered preferential treatment but
would be "virtually assured of the
position" when applying to a
"department that is not diverse."
Yet again the president failed to
complain of misquotation.
Once San Antonio Express-News
columnist Roddy Stinson got hold
Nobody's arguing that this
district needs more minority fac-
ulty.
But instead of concentrating on
minority recruitment, the district
has determined on a course that has
proved not only controversial but
most likely illegal.
Without an affirmative action
plan the district can neither justify
its intent to pursue minority prefer-
ential hiring in departments
underrepresented by minorities nor
protect itself from discrimination
lawsuits.
The district does have several
positive programs aimed at minor-
ity recruitment, notably the Minor-
ity Teaching Fellowship, which this
year will pay for seven blacks or
Hispanics to attend graduate school
RbJocks...
of the story, the district plan's most
vocal supporter, Burgos-Sasscer,
tried to extricate herself from public
ridicule by claiming to have been
misquoted by a student journalist.
The Ranger remains firmly by its
reporting.
Next the president recruited the
entire 18 members of her cabinet to
sign a statement in her defense.
Who would refuse after the
unpopular demotion of Dr. Kenneth
Shumate?
What Burgos-Sasscer should be
doing is recruiting the support of
Chancellor Robert Ramsay, who has
been conspicuously quiet as the
president squirms in the hot seat.
Apparently the president reads
the daily newspaper. We assume
she does not read her own college's
award-winning newspaper.
Either way, it is distressing to
find that the president of a major
community college would use the
excuse of being quoted out of
context when her statements get her
into hot water.
A president who won't stand up
for herself is a president who can't
be trusted to stand up for her
constituents.
The Ranger, the student newspaper at
San Antonio College, is a laboratory project
of the journalism classes in the Department
of Mass Communications.
The Ranger is published Fridays except
during summer, holidays and examinations.
News contributions accepted by telephone
(733-2880) or at the editorial office (Room
208 Loftin Student Center).
Advertising rates available upon request
(733-2278).
The Ranger is a member of the Texas
Intercollegiate Press Association, the
Associated Collegiate Press and the Texas
Community College Press Association.
©1994 by The Ranger staff, San Antonio
College, 1300 San Pedro Ave., San Antonio,
Texas 78212-4299. All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced
without permission.
with a commitment to return to teach
for three years in the district, and Dr.
Robert Zeigler's recent trip to a
minority job fair in Los Angeles.
Diversity means not only having
a variety of skin tones but also
including as many viewpoints and
opinions as possible.
The new hiring intentions are a
move in the opposite direction
because they eliminate any mean-
ingful participation in the hiring
process by deans, vice presidents
and chairpersons.
Clearly the powers that be have
stumbled over their own good
intentions with the changes they
have made in the hiring process.
The question is whether they are
ready to accept the blame and set
about correcting the problem.
The female condom is small with a ring
for an opening.
It sort of resembles a plastic sandwich
bag and costs up to $3.1 should know. Last
semester I attended a seminar on human
sexuality required for Human Development
1170: Introduction to College, otherwise
known as orientation.
This semester I'm in for more.
Orientation is a valuable course that
teaches, among other facts vital to attending
this college, the importance of touching and
how to get along with your parents.
It's a class where students learn how to
study instead of actually giving you the
three hours a week to study. It also teaches
you how to find the buildings instead of
actually having them labeled.
Registration was designed to channel stu-
I have been a San Antonio College student
since spring 1991.1 have always made it a
point to pick up The Ranger.
Up until recently, I thought the paper did a
fairly good job of presenting the news in a
professional manner.
When reporting news, I thought the
newspaper was to remain unbiased.
After reading your story about the students
who failed Nursing 2414, Acute Care, it would
seem that you have placed the entire blame on
the nursing department for the failure of the
students.
I am presently a nursing student who is in
the fourth level. I am anticipating graduation
in May.
When I first was accepted into the nursing
program, I and the rest of the students, were
invited to orientation.
During the orientation we were never
promised that we would finish the program
without having to put forth the effort.
Students from the upper levels came in and
told us just how difficult the program was.
Students told us of long hours of studying,
the emotional aspects of being away from
family and the financial burdens that were
placed upon them because school was so
demanding.
Those students were telling the truth!
Ask any one of the students in the program
now and see if they are not faced with the
same situations that you have reported
happening with the students who did not pass.
Where was it reported about the two
instructors who had their vehicles vandalized?
Or the hardships that are placed upon
them? When we go to the hospitals to work
with patients, those instructors have their
licenses on the line.
As students, we are practicing under their
license. We are taking care of real people with
real illnesses.
The word among the students is that the
t curve
to be added to their grade. If that is to happen,
why should they grade us at all?
I ask you, would you want someone taking
care of you or a family member who had only
Q
o
\
This letter is in response to the article in the
Feb. 4 addressing the ban on gang-related
garments on campus. My questions are
directed to Capt. James J. Egan, concerning his
enforcement of a nonexistent dress code.
• What exactly is gang-related clothing and
jewelry?
• How, based on clothing do you determine
whether a person is in a gang?
• What gang-related crimes have occurred
on campus that warrant imposing a dress code
on college students?
I appreciate the fact the officers are trying to
maintain a safe learning environment, but they
need not infringe on my right to wear what I
please.
H The orientation program
at this college is, among other
things, a complete joke. I am
another student victimized bp
the administrations captive
waps, doomed to sit for weeks
enduring the hardship.
Ruth Burgos-Sasscer passed because of a curve?
Good, hard-working students still fail
classes. That is a reality.
It would be interesting to see how many of
The Ranger
Editor: Calvin Cooper
Managing Editor: Jonathan Wright
Associate Editor: JenniferRodriguez
Senior News Editor: Michelle Valdez
News Editors: Kelly Ramirez, Tricia
Schwennesen, Alison Sutton
Arts & Entertainment Editor: John Davis
Sports Editor: Adam M. Yanelli
Graphics & Design Editor: Ben Gremillion
Design Assistant: Elaine Aradillas
Photographers: Tony Gutierrez, Manny
Olivo, Bill Pethtel
Illustrator: Ryan Parker
Staff Writers: Brenda Carmona, James
Crates, Fabian Gutierrez, Tony Gutierrez,
Monica Hoog, Jason Liserio, Martin
Malacara, Jeremy Martin, Edmond Ortiz,
Mary M. Wetherington
Advertising Representative: Eric Kwiecien
Circulation Manager: Edwin Evans
the students who fail Acute Care failed other
nursing courses.
You quoted one student who said, "The
thing that makes me most upset about the
whole incident is that in the past semesters
teachers saw students having difficulty and
asked why and tried to help students. But in
critical care, they didn't react that way."
When has it become the teacher's responsi-
bility to seek a student out that needs help?
On many occasions I have had questions or
difficulty with a subject. Most instructors have
an open policy to help students.
I have seen instructors and asked them
questions and never had one not try to help. It
didn't matter to them whether I was one of
their students.
The students in your article state they
would not recommend the nursing program.
Let me say that I would discourage anyone
who plans to attend just because they think it's
a job that pays well.
If you are going to nursing school for any
reason besides the fact that you truly want to
care for people, then don't do it.
If you want a good education, with good
hands-on application, then apply to San
Antonio College. I work in a hospital with
many previous students from this college.
None of them ever said it would be easy.
Many employers hire San Antonio College
graduates and are pleased with the clinical
training we receive. So that you don't think
that I am a person without compassion, I do
feel for the students who didn't pass.
I know that I will be devastated if I don't
make it through the program.
If these students really want to be nurses,
then instead of throwing away the time they
invested in the program, why don't they apply
for the summer course and finish?
most colleges have, can serve that purpose.
The administration thinks it is doing us a
favor by requiring that we take orientation
for a credit. They need to wake up. Orienta-
tion is an elective that will not transfer.
Think about it — why would other colleges
want an orientation at this college? And
why should studentshave to pay for, attend
and even buy a workbook for a class that
will not transfer?
If administration finds it necessary to
keep us holed up in a classroom for three
hours a week, the least they could do was
teach us something worthwhile.
Actually, I have no problem with some of
the things they teach in orientation. It is
important to know how to average your
grades or where to go with problems. It is all
the added jumble that goes with it that
makes orientation such a hassle.
To top it off, they actually give tests in
orientation. Give me a break. I have better
ways to spend my time then studying for a
test in a course that does not even transfer.
Orientation, as the students of this col-
lege know, should be banned all together. It
wastes time and money, and no one really
benefits from it.
It would take only one day, or perhaps
even a few hours, to get familiar with the
policies and procedures of this campus.
Administrators need to open their eyes and
see this.
Perhaps in the future, knowledge of the
female condom will come in handy, but I do
not think so.
A
0
With all due respect to Jonathan Wright,
managing editor of The Ranger, I must take
issue with the thrust of the Jan. 28 article
"President Stresses Minority Hiring" which
implies that I believe in hiring unqualified
minorities.
I have never said and would never say that
"when hiring for a department which does not
have a faculty that represents the racial
makeup of the student population, I would
hire the minority candidates regardless of
experience or expertise."
I have too much respect for academic
excellence and for the quality of instruction
San Antonio College students have always
received and will continue to receive at this
institution to ever hire an unqualified instruc-
tor.
What I have repeatedly stressed is that I
will select new faculty from among those
candidates who are deemed qualified and
recommended to me by the departments
where the new faculty will teach. It is from that
group of qualified candidates that I will choose previous class is asking for an 11 -point
individuals who will best serve our students in
light of the goals of the college and of the
directives of the Alamo Community College
District.
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I think I speak for the entire student body
dents through orientation. There aren't any when I say this: The idea of forcing students to
loopholes. Believe me — I looked. A few spend three hours a week for half of a semes-
weeks ago I tried to find a way out of taking ter being introduced to college is ludicrous,
this course, but failed. So instead of taking especially if, like me, they have already spent
courses my major requires I'm destined to a semester here. I learned more about the
learn everything this one hour-credit course campus by talking to my classmatesand walk-
has to offer. Why, most of my friends have ing around to see things for myself.
no idea what a female condom looks like. I know where all the buildings are. I
The orientation program at this college know how to budget my time and how to
is, among other things, a complete joke. I am study. I probably know more about this
another student victimized by the campus than most of the people working
administration's captive ways, doomed to here. If I need to find out something, I can
sit for weeks enduring the hardship. find the answer on my own. An orientation
This is one area where the administrators class is not going to help me.
of this college have their act together. They Granted, when entering college there are
seem to take this orientation stuff very seri- certain questions that need to be answered. A
ously. simple booklet or a day-long orientation, like
'/
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San Antonio College. The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, February 18, 1994, newspaper, February 18, 1994; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1352026/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting San Antonio College.