The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, April 20, 2007 Page: 3 of 31
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The Ranger • www.theranger.org
April 20, 2007 • 3
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Student takes gun on trip over safety concern
By Natalia Montemayor
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Lack of paperwork reason for denial of approval, director says
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whose primary service is to serve alco-
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to control consumption. If it was at
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Geddie was concerned because of the trip’s location.
“Just last weekend, we were all in Nashville at the
Grand Ole Opry, and nobody had any worries, but it
, i are in downtown Houston,”
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would be easier.”
Faculty club adviser Alice Johnson,
dean of learning resources, said she
supports college policies and thought
Zeigler was reasonable in handling the
situation.
She said that GALA members thought
Posadas initially OKed the event and that
this situation reflects a miscommunica-
tion between members and student life.
However, when something does go
wrong, it falls on the advisers, she said.
"It appears to me that they (student
life) make or change policy and the
advisers .aren’t aware of the change
until they come up against it,” she said.
“It is frustrating for advisers who spend
a lot of time with clubs and trying to
deal with constant rules and changes
dictated by student activities.”
Zeigler said that when he spoke to
Brown, he tried to figure out ways to,
salvage the charity event.
“GALA handled the situation well,”
he said. "We wanted to deal with the
situation in a way that serves every-
one’s interest. I was very pleased with
the cooperation of the students, and it
ended up fine. ”
The Gay and Lesbian Association did
not have approval for an April 5 drag
show fundraiser at The Saint, student
life director Jorge Posadas said during
an interview Monday.
The only way to get approved for
an event is to get the event authoriza-
tion form signed and to the student life
office, he said.
He said that GALA had not submitted
the paperwork when they sought approv-
al for fliers for the event March 30. *
At this point, Posadas said he told
the club’s president, Isaac Brown, that
the organization could not have the
event because The Saint serves alco-
hol.
“We don’t want people to think we’re
indecisive and we don’t keep our com-
mitments,” Posadas said. "We are very
fair and open to diverse trains of thought,
but a prbcess has to be followed.”
Brown complained that “to be told
one thing and then another was what
I had a problem with,” The Ranger
reported April 13. , „
“He gave us a verbal agreement,” sessing or using alcohol at district-spon-
■ along while PTK traveled to Kerrville for a Texas sum-
mer honors institute, during the summer of 2006.
“We took our own vehicles that time, and everyone
knew about the gun,” Geddie said before adding that
no advisers had knowledge of the weapon.
Geddie said the advisers learned of her weapon
after she privately showed it to two male PTK members
while they were discussing hunting, and mentioned an
incident in which a female adviser, Robyn McGilloway,
entered her hotel room without warning.
“We were all changing, and all of a sudden one of
the advisers walked into the room, which was an inva-
sion of our privacy,” Geddie said.
Brown said. “They (student life) gave
us the paperwork. All we had to do was
get them signed by The Saint. I wouldn’t
even have argued if he had given us a
heads up on it.”
Although the club could not have the
event,, members sponsored the show,
which raised $243 and a $200 dona-
tion from The Saint, for Mujeres Unidas
Contra el SIDA, an organization that
fights AIDS.
After the death of their former sec-
retary Gilverto Bundrant, who was an
active member of the H1V/AIDS com-
munity, in particular Mujeres, GALA
has raised $707.49 for the group this
semester.
“It was a nice way to have a con-
tinuation for this charity on behalf of my
friend,” club member Janelle Gallegos
said.
Posadas said he is supportive of
GALA. He used student life funds to j o ,
pay for three members to make an April said. “If a club wants to have an event
13-15 trip to Austin for the Queer Texas
Conference.
The district policy that went into effect
Dec. 19, 1990, forbids students from pos-
advisers met with President Robert Zeigler.
“All I can say is that there was an incident, and it
was dealt with according to the student code of con-
duct,” Zeigler said.
Then Geddie met with Emma Mendiola, dean of
Student Services, to discuss the issue.
“SAC didn’t want to get in trouble over all of this,
but other than that, it wasn’t as big of a deal as it was
made out to be,” Geddie said.
Geddie said she questioned if carrying the gun
would have been permissible had district vehicles not
Contest winners
At the Phi Theta Kappa International Convention
April 12-14, the San Antonio College Beta Nu Chapter
was named one of the Top 100 Chapters, out of a
total of more tham 1,200 chapters in the world.
At the Students in a Free Enterprise Club
Regional Competition on April 4, the San Antonio
College, team was named the SIFE USA Regional
Champion in overall competition. The team was
US GE Consumer Products Program Sustainability
Competition. The team will go on to compete at the
■ *. - ----------J- SIFE USA National Exposition May 6-8 in Dallas,
ty adviser for PTK, attended the trip and explained that
trip,” Lee said
Former PTK adviser and theater Chair Jeff Hunt
remembers hearing about the incident a week after
PTK returned from Houston.
“When I found out, I felt real bad for the advis-
ers, because I knew that they were not at fault and
that this situation was out of their control,” Hunt
said.
Hunt explained that before traveling out of town,
faculty advisers set aside time to clearly explain rules
and restrictions to students, namely drinking and drug
■ use — the issue of a student possessing a weapon
seemed improbable at the time.
“As advisers, we have to continually think and con-
sider how to keep our students safe,” Hunt said.
Geddie expressed her belief that if licensed, carry-
ing a concealed weapon is a way for students to ensure
their safety — citing Monday’s shooting rampage at
Virginia Tech as an example.
“Imagine if one of those students, teachers or even
a janitor were permitted to carry a gun — they could
have defended themselves,” she said.
Geddie also expressed concern for how her decision
may have affected the group’s reputation.
“I don’t want PTK or any of the advisers to look bad
because of a decision I made,” she said.
New PTK officers were elected, and the group has
continued with their normal activities, which include
community service projects.
PTK is seeking permission from student life to
conduct tutoring in the Fiesta Room during the week
before final exams.
“How the organization functions has a lot to do
with the current elected officials,” Lee said.
Lee also said the group plans to continue trav-
eling, noting that it gives students the chance to
meet other PTK members from other colleges and
universities.
Once a student joins PTK, they are considered a
lifetime member, and Geddie is no exception.
“What this whole incident has done for all campus
organizations and advisers is bring the issue of weap-
ons to their attention — we learned a lot from it,” Hunt
said. “But I would never have expected that a student
would do something like this and feel like it is not a
• big deal.”
sored activities on and Qff campus.
Posadas said this policy is not in the
student life handbook because it is a
district policy, and it would be redun-
dant. The handbook will be updated and
include a section on student behavior,
he said.
On other organizations that have
events in places that serve alcohol, in par-
ticular, radio station KSYM, Posadas said
they do not need approval from student
life because they are not a student club.
KSYM had a charity event in the
fall at Sam’s Burger Joint and plans
to appear at the Fiesta Oyster Bake on
Saturday at St. Mary’s University.
College President Robert Zeigler said
TUesday that the policy states that stu-
dents cannot possess or consume alco-
hol at a college-sponsored event, but it
does , not state anything about having an
event in a place that serves alcohol.
“It’s really a judgment call,” Zeigler
An e-mail scandal involv-
ing Alvoid R. Bennett, dean
of continuing education at St.
Philip's College, is a good
reminder to students and fac-
ulty that e-mail is more than
just a casual technological
convenience.
Bennett, who alleg-
edly used his district e-mail
account for personal use in
business dealings, is on paid
leave and facing hearings
May 8 and 9.
When students use their
PALS e-mail accounts provid-
ed by the district, the idea is
for students without access
to the Internet to keep in
contact with their teachers
and for academic use only,
Emma Mendiola, interim dean
of student affairs' said.
Randolph Klein, applica-
tions systems manager for
the district'information tech-
nologies department, said e-
mails are temporarily backed
up for 60 days in a server but
are not archived.
He said students’ PALS
e-mails will not be monitored
unless requested by authori-
ties such as campus police.
The appropriate use policy
for PALS can be found online
at www.accd.edu/is2/por-
tal/policy.htm.
The policy lists such inap-
propriate use of PALS e-mails
and all other campus comput-
er property as, among other
things: sending spam; stalk-
ing, harassing or threatening
someone; acquiring financial
gain from district technol-
ogy; political campaigning or
endorsement; use in spread-
ing computer viruses; viewing
or distributing obscene mate-
rial; or anything which would
violate the law.
Breaking computer use
rules may result in revocation of
access to district computers.
If necessary, expulsion for
students and firing for fac-
ulty may result with possible
legal action, according to the
policy.
To avoid this, Mendiola
said students should rely on
their own good judgment.
A good rule of thumb is
that students should not use
their PALS e-mail for things
which they would not like
their parents or boss to see,
she' said.
While attending a Phi Theta Kappa leadership con-
ference in Houston last fall, former student Lisa Geddie
brought along a handgun.
Geddie, who was the secretary of the local chap-
ter of the honor society, chose to bring the weapon
because of her concern for her personal safety, but was
met with opposition when faculty advisers learned
about the gun during the trip.
I sincerely believe that it is our right to carry a per-
sonal handgun on or within your personal property,”
Geddie said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Geddie also stated she is licensed to carry a con-
cealed weapon and felt she had legitimate reason to be
concerned for her well-being.
Economics Professor Susan Spencer, who is a facul-
a trip with PTK, and neither can anybody else — and
if we feel like there is an individual who may drink,
we will address the issue to them privately before a
been the mode of transportation.
- - - . - ---------- “They said it still wouldn’t, be allowed, even if we
isn t the same when you are in downtown Houston,” drove our own vehicles,” she said.
Spencer said. According to the student code of conduct in the col-
cco,.,in® *° Geddie, the weapon also was brought lege bulletin, no weapons are allowed on any district
premises or at any off-campus activity sponsored by
the district.
Weapons include, but are not limited to firearms,
ammunition, chemicals, knives, fireworks and martial
arts weapons.
The code also states that vehicles parked on cam-
pus are subject to search if there is reasonable cause to
believe there is a weapon inside.
“They use a blanket statement to prohibit some-
thing that is lawful. It says so in the Constitution and
the Bible,” Geddie said.
Dr. Jonathan Lee, current PTK adviser and his-
. . lory professor, recalled the controversy following the
Upon returning from the trip, Geddie and PTK Houston trip, although he was not in attendance.
”1 know that it didn’t result in anyone getting
kicked out or moved down from' their position as an
officer,” Lee said.
Lee was present during the trip to Kerrville and
didn’t recall any disciplinary issues occurring.
“I accompanied them to Kerrville in the summer,
and there were no bending of rules or discipline prob-
lems,” Lee said.
Lee_ explained that as an adviser for PTK, he is
restricted from the same activities as students.
“Even though I am of age, I cannot drink while
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San Antonio College. The Ranger (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, April 20, 2007, newspaper, April 20, 2007; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1354398/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting San Antonio College.