BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPLICATIONS BEING AC­CEPTED

Applications for the opening on the Board of Trustees are be­ing currently accepted. Those interested can submit an ap­plication and resume. Applica­tions may be picked up in room 112 of the General Education Building (GEB) and also may be accessed through the col­lege website. Applications will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on September 6.

A.L.I.C.E. VIDEO AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING

The new A.L.I.C.E. video, “Write Your Own Script” is now available for viewing. All staff and faculty at the col­lege were required to take an A.L.I.C.E. program class this summer. The program, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, In­form, Counter, Evacuate, is the college’s official violent intrud­er response program. Students can view the video by going to: www.jccc.edu/administration/ police/emergency-prepared­ness/college-emergency-re­sponse-plan/campus-violence. html

PRESIDENT TO DELIVER FIRST PRESENTATION

Joe Sopcich, the college’s new president, will deliver his first State of the College presenta­tion at 1 p.m. onSeptember 12 in the Polsky Theatre, located in the Carlsen Center. The pre­sentation is free and open to the public. Sopcich’s speech, entitled One Community, One College, One Goal will express new ambitions for the college, faculty, and students.

Compiled by Olivia Fox, staff reporter, ofox@jccc.edu.

WALLET STOLEN

A student contacted cam­pus police on August 20 when his wallet was stolen from the field house in the GYM building. The student was playing basketball with other students in the field house and left his backpack on the floor near the area. The student had two credit/ debit cards, a social security card, a college identifica­tion card, gift card, insur­ance cards, and personal information in the wallet. The student checked with his bank and found that someone had used his card at Panda Express.

CATALYTIC CRIME

Campus police were dis­patched on August 17 after two students discovered their catalytic converters under their cars were cut off. Both students parked their vehicles in the sports lot on August 16 and, upon returning, found them to make unusual noises.

HIT AND RUN

Campus police were con­tacted on August 21 in re­gards to a hit and run traf­fic accident occurring in the Library east parking lot. The student parked his car in the lot, returned a few hours later and discovered his rear driver’s side door to be struck in. There was no information left by the hit and run driver.

Compiled by Olivia Fox, staff reporter, ofox@jccc.edu.

By Josh Bull

The college implemented a tech fee of $3 per credit hour on student tuition to help fund an effort to improve network access in 2011. This money has been used to fund a variety of tech improvements, including improved Wi-Fi coverage, a second Internet connection and a smart phone app.

Through a partnership with Cisco Systems and CDW-G, a secondary division of CDW Corporation, the college has made improvements to its wireless network on campus and released a smart phone app to help students access the Internet on campus and use college services.

The JCCC Mobile smart phone app can be used to access content on the college website and more. Along with accessing a student’s schedule, checking grades and paying tuition, it can be used to check the college’s Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pages, as well as the Campus Ledger and any phone numbers relevant to the college, including the Campus Police. It can also be used to search the campus bookstore and library, campus jobs and faculty.

“One of the things we knew in the beginning is that we didn’t want to roll out a mobile app just in a hurry just because we could. We wanted to roll it out and have it provide you value from the very beginning,” Sandra Warner, Deputy CIO, said.

JCCC Mobile is available on Android and iOS devices. Beyond JCCC Mobile, the college has improved its Wi- Fi access.

“Obviously, wireless is a big part of a student’s needs on a college campus today, and so a lot of enhancements have been made in that arena,” Warner said.

Every building on campus and many outdoor areas, including the baseball field, now have wireless access and more access points will be installed.

“We’ve got others we’re going to add on campus to improve coverage,” Matt Holmes, Administrator of Computer Services, said.

Also implemented was the log in system used by students and faculty trying to access the wireless network.

“Our wireless prior basically had an open network, so to speak,” Martin Huerter, Network Architect, said. “An open wireless network, with your BYOD, bring your own device being so popular, we had to address that. So we implemented the identity service.”

The college hopes that students notice the improvements as they use the wireless network and that the classroom experience is enhanced by these improvements.

“We’re really excited to be able to offer that experience campus wide, indoor and outdoor, the mobile app, the whole thing is really exciting,” Warner said. “We hope that the experience in the classroom is better, but this is, I think, where the fun is because now you really get to have an improved user experience and user interface to interact with the college.”

Contact Josh Bull, reporting correspondent, at jbull3@jccc. edu. 

By Stephen Cook

With a new president, a new organizational structure and a new semester, there has been discussion about how the campus will change over the next few months. President Joe Sopcich, in a plan to cut costs and save money, has been looking carefully at what that will mean.

“In addition to the budget and the key performance indicators, I wanted to take a hard look at the college’s organizational structure,” Sopcich said in an email sent out to college staff. “I knew I wanted to limit the number of people reporting to me directly and for divisions and departments to be grouped in ways that would enhance discussion, collaboration, efficiency and effectiveness.”

With the dismissal of certain individuals, the positions they once held have been removed as well.

“Please note that no new positions have been created as a part of this re-organization,” Sopcich said. “Based on our operational needs and budget challenges, certain departments have been eliminated.”

These changes have put staff and faculty in a state of uncertainty, according to Deb Williams, president of the faculty association.

“People are wondering, am I next?,” Williams said at the August 15 Board of Trustees meeting. “What programs are vulnerable?”

There are alternatives available to eliminating faculty positions, according to Williams.

“I hope we will never put ourselves in a position where we’re racing to the bottom line without looking at impacts of those decisions beyond the monetary one,” Williams said. “When you squeeze resources so much you start to see impacts on quality.”

Jerry Cook, Board of Trustees chair, said it is about obtaining information and making the best choices possible.

“Our challenge is to not fear the conflict but to see where the different positions are and again make the best decisions we can,” Cook said at the August 15 Board of Trustees meeting. “While we ask for information, it doesn’t always mean then that the decisions will always appease all the people that gave that insight.”

The 2013-14 college budget was approved at the August Board of Trustees meeting. Work on the 2014-15 budget will begin this October and November.

Although a one mill levy increase was decided on, Williams wondered why it was assumed taxpayers wouldn’t pay more, considering the local influence of the college.

“It’s not a drain or a parasite on the community,” Williams said. “But rather a very impacting presence.”

Contact Stephen Cook, editor-in-chief, at scook35@jccc.edu.

By David Hurtado

It’s the first day of school and the numbers are in. 16,073 students are enrolled at the college as of August 20, according to MargE Shelley, assistant dean of Enrollment, a six percent decrease from last year.

Although the numbers are down from previous years, Dennis Day, vice president, Student Success, said this trend is not specific to the college alone. He said as the economy slowly gets back on its feet, less people are seeking higher education.

“The national trend right now with the economy being in a better shape than it was, less people will go to higher education,” Day said. “Because, during really bad times, they either go for re-training or a place to go to because they don’t have jobs and they can get financial aid; we had a big spike in financial aid during that time period.”

According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse, two-year public institutions like the college experienced a two to three percent drop in enrollment during the last three years. As the economy is slowing recovering from the 2008 recession, colleges across the board are experiencing enrollment drops.

Many people point to the improving economy for decreasing enrollment at the college, but others think the enrolling process is cumbersome and confusing due to a lack of clear directions around campus and, at times, irregular counseling office hours.

Despite misgivings toward the enrollment process, the college has made efforts to make enrolling easier for students. Recently, for the duration of late enrollment, a podium has been placed near the Student Services Desk and additional signs have been set up to direct students around campus quicker.

Anna Strickland, student, Student Services, said during the enrollment period, typically 150 people will come to the Student Services desk with questions on a given day. She said most of these are simple questions, asking where the restroom or Financial Aid Office can be found.

“I have seen people being helped at the podium at the front,” Strickland said. “I think it has done a lot, because they actually see somebody to talk to.”

In addition to the rebranding efforts, Day said the college’s marketing group has been discussing different strategies in the past few months for attracting students to the college. He said there are three age groups of students they focus on: 17 to 21 year olds, 24 to 29 year olds and 30 to 39 year olds.

The college’s policy toward late enrollment has also received criticism in the case of students not able to enroll right away due to personal or financial reasons. Students who wish to enroll in a course must do so prior to the first day the class meets.

Once the class has begun enrollment is closed, and only courses that start later in the semester are still open. This is the third year the late registration policy has been in effect.

Day said he believes the college provides ample opportunities for students to get into courses two weeks after the initial start of classes. Day added he doesn’t believe late registration has much effect on overall enrollment.

“We provide an opportunity for people to get in the classes two weeks after the initial start of classes,” Day said. “I think the bigger issue there has nothing to do with open enrollment, but it has to do with being able to change your classes more freely and we kind of restrict that by having no late enrollment.”

Jeff Anderson, counselor, said the Counseling Center has not experienced a decline in the number of students asking for help, even though enrollment is down this semester. For the past three weeks, the center has rolled out what they call “Advising Express,” an approach that helps counselors with peak time student demand.

According to Anderson, during Advising Express, 3,309 walk-in students were assisted with enrollment, not counting IM’s, appointments, or students helped at the Quick Question Desk. However, he said the operation had to be moved up to the third floor of the COM building because of a lack of space, in part because the college does not have a good facility on campus to handle enrollment.

“The intent of the Advising Express upstairs process was supposed to be like a quick turnaround,” he said. “The problem with that is the students who came in this last month of the process are the ones who have issues that are very complicated and they tend to take a lot more time. As a result it kind of slows down what’s supposed to be a quick process to a very drawn out process.”

Advising Express begins three weeks prior to the start of classes and has been an important tool in Counseling’s approach to enrollment for many years now. Anderson said about 1/3 of students typically wait until the last month to enroll, and the AE approach greatly helps dealing with so many students in a short time span.

On average, a counselor typically sees between 8 and 10 students a day, if not more. The number of counselors on hand per day varies, as not every counselor is full time, and some teach classes in addition to counseling.

Anderson said he personally has not heard any complaints when meeting with students, but said he would be naïve to think there weren’t any. Overall, Anderson said he believed there are things that can be done to make the process smoother for students, like communicating to students earlier in the summertime.

“One thing that could improve was if we had a space on campus, a central location that was dedicated to registration so that we’re not up here in the obscure reaches of Commons 319 doing this thing,” Anderson said. “If there was some dedicated space for registration, I think that would be great.”

Due to this limitation, the scope of operation has been affected, according to Anderson.

“As it’s turned out, we’ve just been pressed for space,” Anderson and we’ve had to farm stuff outside of our area.

Contact David Hurtado, features editor, at dhurtado@jccc.edu.

By Stephen Cook

When Brown & Gold club members went to enroll this fall, some were told the program was no longer available and others were unable to find information about membership. Likewise, some members went to the campus fitness center, only to be told the program would no longer be happening.

Judy Korb, executive vice president of academic affairs and operations, said this information was born from an initial misunderstanding at a meeting earlier this year.

“It wasn’t really misinformation,” Korb said. “It was just sort of like people acting on the discussion that had taken place before it was really, actually finalized and all the whole process was in place and all the decisions had been made so that everybody knew here’s what needs to happen, when.”

Now, information is being gathered so concrete decisions can be made for the spring.

The club currently allows those 55 and older to take free classes, use the fitness center and receive discounts to events for a yearly fee of $10.

At the end of the summer, focus groups were held, made up of folks from the Brown & Gold advisory board, active club members and individuals who had contacted the college looking to provide feedback about the topic.

“At the focus groups we pretty much just ask them what benefits they have taken advantage of, what benefits they would most like to see retained, trying to get an idea of what parts of this are most important to people,” Korb said.

One of the ideas being considered involves negotiations with an organization that cannot currently be named.

“We are looking at merging activities with another organization that provides similar benefits,” Korb said.

Joe Sopcich, president, has been looking at the budget to see where money can be saved.

“We’re kind of stepping back, we’re looking at different programs and assessing them,” Sopcich said. “With Brown & Gold, basically is there a better way that we can do this, a better more efficient way that we can still meet people’s needs?”

Though classes may be free for club members, Sopcich said the college still has to budget for the cost.

“Our interpretation of the state statute was that whenever anybody takes the class we have to cover the cost,” Sopcich said. “Those costs then were put in our budget. So if those costs were eliminated, then we have budget savings.”

The way costs for the club are accounted for means the money still needs to be in the budget.

“It’s not like we’re writing a check to anybody, but we still have to have that money budgeted,” Sopcich said. “So if you budget $150,000 or you budget $300,000 and you don’t have to budget anymore, that money can be used for something else, or it can be savings.”

Sopcich said these choices are all about the budget.

“I believe last year we allocated $330,000 to cover that, and that’s a lot of money,” Sopcich said.

Paula Smith, who has been involved with the Brown and Gold program for about seven years, said the program is very unique to the college and members aren’t negatively affecting classes.

“I don’t know if there’s any other programs like this,” Smith said. “I think it’s really good because if a younger student hasn’t signed up for that program by the deadline when we can sign up, they’re not going to sign up. We’re not taking seats away from anyone else.”

Smith said she would rather learn at the college than independently from a book. She doesn’t need the classes, she takes them because she enjoys learning.

“I would much prefer to be able to come here and take the class,” Smith said. “If they’re the least bit creative they can find grants because this is an amazing program.”

Looking ahead, Korb would like to get a decision made soon so the plan can be shared and made known.

“My goal is to get all of the feedback and input and get a decision made by [the end of September], so that we can get hard and fast communication out to people that says, here’s what’s definitely going to happen,” Korb said.

An announcement should come at the beginning of October, according to Korb, detailing the changes that will be made to the club in the spring.

As more information becomes available, visit campusledger. com/?s=brown+%26+gold.

Contact Stephen Cook, editor-in-chief, at scook35@jccc.edu.