By Stephen Cook

With students on campus settling in to a new semester, the college’s Student Senate continues to assemble its group of senators.

Student Senate is made up of 30 elected students that work to involve students in various campus issues and problems students may be facing. Five executive board members and 25 senators at large comprise the group.

As of press time, 19 of the 25 senator positions are filled. Before their Sept. 23 general assembly meeting, 17 seats were filled.

Elliot Rogers, Student Senate president, said one of the biggest challenges that Student Senate faces is getting involvement and getting a representation of the whole student body.

“There’s no such thing as a captive audience [at the college],” Rogers said. “If they come here for classes they want to just leave; they don’t understand that we are a living part of this campus. They don’t understand the dynamics of it so they don’t want to be part of it.”

The response during the most recent senator-at-large election wasn’t the greatest, both in regards to people running and voting, according to Mindy Kinnaman, adviser for Student Senate. Total, less than 100 votes were cast.

“It was unfortunate because we felt like we were interacting with a lot of people,” Kinnaman said. “We’ve tried to even change how we do that information like we’ve started putting QR codes out, we put links on things so that students are taking that information with them, it’s just how do we get them to make that commitment to go on and actually do it.”

However, in addition to a well-attended first town hall meeting, Kinnaman said more students have since come to express their interest in joining Senate.

When she started working at the college in 2010, Kinnaman was told about 12 percent of students are engaged on this campus. Engagement can mean participating in athletics, working an on-campus job, getting involved with extracurricular projects such as study abroad or through clubs and organizations, she said.

In regards to the Student Senate, Kinnaman believes the biggest challenge they face is “getting their name out there”. Many students don’t know there is a Student Senate on campus, while others are just coming for class and going home, she said.

“It’s not just how can we get senate’s name out to those students who are looking for ways to get involved; how do we get it out to those who may not be looking for it but may not realize they need this in their lives?” Kinnaman said.

Both historically and during her time at the college, Kinnaman has seen the group impact the campus. Although some things take longer than others to accomplish, she said it is important for students to contribute ideas and issues that may be of concern.

“We really just need them to bring us those ideas so that we know they’re there in the first place, because each student is only aware of what they experience or what they hear,” Kinnaman said. “They may see something that we don’t, and so if somebody can just bring those ideas to the Student Senate […] we’re going to take it seriously and we’re going to see what we can do to help make it better.”

The majority of students on campus aren’t aware of Student Senate and what they do at the college, according to Rogers. During this past election, he spent time talking to students, asking students if they knew about Senate and what they do on campus.

“I don’t think I ever got a response that said I know about Student Senate, I’ve done that before or I researched that, I looked into it or I’ve heard about it,” Rogers said.

One of the misconceptions about the group is that some students perceive it is a political club, according to Rogers.

“Quite often people hear about Student Senate and they really think of a political club,” Rogers said. “There are clubs that deal very strictly with politics, but mostly, we’re an involvement club.”

Rogers said a look at the Senate’s calendar of upcoming events gives students a better understanding of what the group is.

“We try to be that outreach to students, outreach to clubs and promoting academic excellence,” Rogers said. “Those [events] aren’t political style events, those are fun things, those are trying to make this campus what we want it to be, not governing the campus, those are enhancing the campus.”

Jeffery Redmond, who was recently elected vice president of Student Senate, believes the group plays an important part in affecting the campus.

“The role of student senate is kind of like a guiding light to those who still [are] kind of trying to find their position,” Redmond said. “We need to be a focused group of leaders for the future, that’s what we are; we’re working towards the future to be the leaders of our community.”

Although the influx of new senators may be a challenge, Redmond said the college’s environment does offer advantages.

“Right now, I think the structural limitations are not as imposing as I’ve seen in other schools,” Redmond said. “We have a lot more upward mobility than I’ve seen [in] a lot of other organizations; ability to restructure is an ongoing thing.”

As leaders in Student Senate, Rogers said it is important that they maintain the correct attitude, filtering it out across campus and being leaders by example.

“The student life here, once you see student life, it’s really contagious, it draws you in,” Rogers said. “So if we can make the attitude with our goals as part of that contagiousness, then that’s really going to help.”

Contact Stephen Cook,

By Lindsay Sax

Students at certain colleges and universities have potentially one more test after graduation to take. It’s called the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus (CLA+), a college exit exam.

CLA+ is given through the Council for Aid to Education (CAE), a national nonprofit founded in 1953 and located in New York City.

“The shortcoming of all of those standardized national tests like that, you are making the assumption it is geared toward the learning that happened in your classroom,” said Sheri Barrett, director, Office of Outcomes Assessment.

CAE said the standardized test is designed to measure critical thinking, problem solving, scientific and quantitative reasoning, writing and the ability to critique and make arguments. The post-college exam is used to provide employers with evidence of work readiness skills for applicants, according to the CAE website.

“It’s another set of information that employers can use to review the applicant,” said Robert Keeley, director of assessment services at CAE, in an article on nbcnews.com. “We’re looking to equip students to share their scores more readily than they have in the past.”

Barrett said a standardized test cannot tell how an applicant interacts with people and their depth of ability.

Some people say that the test will address the problem of grade inflation, which some schools may use to award higher grades resulting in attracting and retaining students.

There are 700 institutions both in the United States and internationally that use the test, according to the CAE website. Some schools closer to home include Fort Hays State University, Emporia State University, Pittsburg State University and Wichita State University.

At Emporia State the test is not mandatory, said JoLanna I. Kord, interim assistant provost, Institutional Research & Assessment at Emporia State. It is used to report to the Kansas Board of Regents performance indicator goals.

Chris Roitz, student, believes the exams will have a negative effect on students.

“It’s just another road block that people are going to see while getting an education, and they lose motivation,” said Roitz.

Exit exams are not new, according to Barrett. While she does not think it works for all areas there are some where a standardized test will work.

“I think that it worked best in those fields where the faculty, the department chair had taken the time and the opportunity,” said Barrett. “You can get a sample and they had read through it and mapped their own curriculum to the test to see, does this in fact address the areas of learning that we want from our students?”

Can a national standardized test made for everyone actually tell your personality and abilities?

“No, because I’m not like anyone else,” said Riotz.

Contact Lindsay Sax, copy editor, at lsax@ jccc.edu.

By Josh Bull

The food court was first put in by the college in 2000 and while Sushi with Gusto is still relatively new, Pizza Hut and Chick-Fil-A have been there from the beginning.

Chick-Fil-A, Pizza Hut and Sushi with Gusto are licensed by the college to sell their products under a five year contract.

“We buy the products from them and then we pay a royalty back to them,” said dining services manager, Jay Glatz.

When the food court was installed, the college surveyed students and based on the results of the survey, product quality, and the conditions of their contracts, Chick-Fil-A and Pizza Hut were chosen. AFC Sushi, which was replaced by Sushi with Gusto last year, was chosen in 2005. But even AFC Sushi was not the first thing to use that space.

“Back in that sushi area, we had a yogurt machine and some deserts and that area was only doing something like three, four percent of the total business in the food court, so I said ‘we probably need to look at something, you know, different there.’” Glatz said.

The college makes its choice based on what it feels the best fit for the college and the students.

“We thought it would be popular, we thought the students would want it and by that, we certainly considered what was going on other campuses,” said Don Perkins, associate vice president of finance services. “Financially, of course, there is the contract arrangement, but also quality of product.”

The college also considers other factors.

“It’s going to be quality,” said Mitch Borchers, Associate Vice President of Business Services. “It’s going to be customer service, price, it varies from one thing to the next.”

However, Pizza Hut, Chick-Fil-A and Sushi with Gusto are not the only options in the food court. There are also Boulevard Burgers and Ariba.

“With food courts, you usually look at national brands to anchor your food court, and then you surround them with your own brands,” said Glatz.

The college chose to put in Boulevard Burgers, because it felt that it could operate its own burger concept over a third party concept.

But how did Pizza Hut, Chick-Fil-A and Sushi with Gusto get there in the first place? The college has a bidding process where it invites national franchises to send contract proposals. The decisions are made based on student wants, product quality and cost of sales. The bidding process is also advertised, so the bid is still public.

The college’s food court earned $1,322,698 during the 2012-2013 school year.

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

By Stephen Cook 

Q. Why was the amount of $3 million chosen as the minimum budget reduction amount? 

A. The $3 million was arrived at because it was the amount that we’re able to make the adjustments that we need to the other parts of the budget to accomplish what we set out to do; and that was to, one, reinforce the capital line of the budget and two, to get the reserves back to where they need to be. So, by looking at that $3 million number, that’s the number that allows us to do that. A component of that, which you should be interested in would be the tuition. Historically, I think if you look back, you had tuition increases at two dollars a year, three dollars a year, four dollars a year, five dollars a year, six dollars a year, which is relatively inconsistent. So our objective was to provide some type of tuition schedule, a recommended tuition schedule over the next five years and that would include, I believe the increase was three dollars a credit hour a year for those five years. So all those different variables come together to help us accomplish what we need to do.

You’ve talked about evaluating the programs at the college; could you talk about how those would be affected? Will the scope of certain programs be reduced or would some programs be cut altogether? 

You should evaluate what you do every year and it’s not that unusual, academic institutions do that and they look at their enrollments, they look whether those enrollments are trending up or down, they look at the cost involved to put on those classes and then from there they make decisions with regard to do they sustain that program? Do they invest more in it, or do they reduce it or do they eliminate it? So those are all the types of options that we’ll be looking at when we go through the evaluation process. We started doing something to that effect, I think it was several years ago when we introduced the PBS [Prioritizing the Budget Strategically] process for the budget, the objective was to review the programs.

In your email message to staff, you mentioned that, regarding evaluations, there needs to be consistency between areas, but also enough flexibility between areas, could you talk about what that means? 

Well, because not everybody’s the same. Teaching an English class is a little bit different than teaching a nursing class with regard to the requirements. One program, with regard to what student service could be doing, could be different than what’s going on in the museum. We’re a very diverse campus with regard to the services that we offer, to the classes that we teach. So there needs to be some type of consistency when you evaluate, but you also have to give some flexibility to allow for the diversity in the programming.

Who is making these evaluations? 

Those evaluations will hopefully be made by within the areas who are responsible for them and then that will filter upward to the cabinet; and we’ll be working with other constituencies throughout the campus to talk about this to collect information.

What kind of constituencies? 

We’re hoping to get some involvement from faculty; we’re hoping to get some involvement from members of staff. Quite honestly, we haven’t really ironed that out yet. It’s still a work in progress.

At this time are there any specific programs that might be affected? 

No, we haven’t even started that process. We’ve moved everything up, normally this would start, late October or November so we wanted to get an early start because we know that you need to give it as much time as you can to collect all the information.

Regarding employees, how will it be decided who stays and who goes during this time? 

Well, there are so many variables that we have to look at in those programs. The challenge is [we have to evaluate positions, not individuals]. Does it really contribute to student success and does it merit the cost of investment in that and, it’s hard to do, but you try to evaluate the function and the position rather than the personality that’s involved.

For employees that might be concerned about what the future holds, what do you think they need to know?

Well, I think they should just be attentive to the process and to work toward collecting the information and the data to help evaluate their areas.

Regarding the tuition increase, how was the decision made for it to be implemented at this time?

Well, the way it works is that the administration would recommend it to the trustees, but right now I think we’re the second lowest tuition rate in the region. At the end of five years, the plan is, that per credit hour would be 100 dollars, so that’s over a five year period. I think if you start looking at other opportunities at other schools, it might already be in that neighborhood or about more. So, but the process is the administration, what they do every year, identifies what the tuition would be and then proposes that to the trustees.

What kind of feedback have you received about the proposal to increase tuition?

Haven’t received anything, yet.

Are there any reductions planned for the years after?

The objective is to do this now so we’ll be fine down the road, that’s why we’re trying to do this now and then we can start working on other things, but this is the first step in kind of making some adjustments and then hopefully we’ll never have to make adjustments down the road, but you can never say never, right? But that’s the goal.

Adjustments in regards to shrinking the budget again?

Right, but now it’s important to note that we’re not talking about shrinking the overall budget, we’re talking about focusing just on the salaries and benefits line of the budget. We’ve got three basic lines of the budget, you’ve got the salaries and benefits, you’ve got capital expenditures and you have operating expenditures. Those three comprise your operating budget. It’s a very complicated issue.

Was there anything else you’d like to add?

The budget is a very complex deal, it’s a lot of money, you’re talking about $137, $138 million so that’s a lot. There are a lot of other things that are connected to it as well and so what we’re trying to do is address the future – and we’re fine.

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

By Jessica Skaggs

The college gym is taking new preventive measures in response to recent thefts and with the intent of deterring more thefts from taking place in the future.

In the spring of last year, the college experienced multiple reports of gym thefts in both the lifetime fitness center and locker rooms. Over the summer and this semester, the men’s locker room has been the primary area of reported thefts.

Thefts are not only allegedly taking place with unlocked items. Items are reportedly being taken from locked lockers as well, as they are being broken into with the use of bolt cutters.

Cameras monitoring the hallways and entryways are to be installed as soon as possible. However cameras alone are not going to solve the ongoing problem.

“With a camera, you just get a picture,” Dan Robles, crime prevention officer said. “What we are also wanting to do is increase our presence.”

A major element to the college’s response to the thefts includes training gym staff on what they can do to prevent and deter thefts. Gym employees will now wear name tags to distinguish their presence.

Additionally, the fitness center has placed large new signs in the hallways, locker-room doors and above the wall of cubby-holes, reminding students not to leave valuables behind.

“My recommendation to anybody would be to either leave valuables at home or leave them in the trunk of their car,” Joe Weis, director of Health and Physical Education (HPR).

The gym staff as well as the campus police, have worked together to try to create a safe environment for everyone using the facility. Encouraging students and faculty alike to take their own preventive measures is a key aspect in their attempts to reduce thefts.

“What we’re doing to prevent some of it is teaching the students who put stuff in locker rooms, what they have to do to prevent or deter thefts,” Jim Dice, HPR and clinic coordinator said.

Contact Jessica Skaggs, managing editor, at jskaggs4@jccc.edu.

By David Hurtado 

Hundreds of cyclists will be riding from Olathe to Lawrence, in support of individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) over a two day stretch this coming weekend.

The Mid-America chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is hosting their annual MS Bike tour, formally the MS-150, over Sept. 14 and 15. The tour, which draws thousands each year, has raised over $500,000 and is one of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s largest fundraising events. This will be the 30th anniversary of the bike tour.

Larry Stanfield, associate, Postal Services, is one of only two people who have participated all 30 years since the bike tour began. Stanfield said what got him initially interested in the bike tour was a desire to get outside and do something.

“I just moved here from California, and I am a pretty active outdoors type of person,” Stanfield said. “When I moved here, I decided ‘Well, the things I did out there like dune buggies and motorcycle racing wasn’t available here,’ so I decided to start bicycling.”

Over the 30 years Stanfield has rode, he said the event has only been cancelled once due to inclement weather. During the 2012 tour, the second day of the event was called off by the highway patrol, police department and local towns, fearing the rain presented a safety hazard to bikers.

Kristen Keith, marketing coordinator, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said the organization is expecting between 2000 and 2500 participants this year. There will be three different routes bikers can take, including a traditional route at 100 miles or a shorter route around 43 miles. Keith said there will be plenty of rest stops along the way for participants.

“There are rest stops about every 10 miles or so along the route for cyclists to stop and refill their water bottles, get some Gatorade or a snack,” Keith said. “Really, just anything they need to keep up their strength and keep going.”

Online registration is currently closed, but anyone interested can still sign up on the day of the event after paying a $50 registration fee and $200 fundraising minimum at Garmin Headquarters in Olathe, KS. Keith said each year the MS Society has held the tour, it has been very successful in raising proceeds for people with MS.

“It’s extremely successful,” she said. “Every year we raise a little over 1 million dollars for the society and that goes back to research different support programs and services for the 11,000 people living with MS in our chapter territory.”

The most challenging aspect of the bike tour is hills, according to Stanfield. He spends about six or seven hours on his bike, averaging about 12 miles per hour. The first day generally consists of anywhere between 75 and 100 miles. The second day involves around 70 miles.

“When I first started out riding, the very first year I was so sore, but I enjoyed the ride so much that I said ‘well I’m going to try it again next year,” he said. “I came back for my second year and continued to ride. First I said I’d do it for five years, then ten years, then I just stopped counting after that. It’s something I look forward to every year.”

Jane Stanfield, Larry’s wife, said his exercise regimen involves riding his bike to different locations as much as he can, in preparation for the annual MS Bike Tour and because he enjoys being outside.

“Larry rides after work on the bike trail at Corporate Woods,” she said. “He also rides on weekends with his bike club, Bungee Bike Club, to the Plaza and many country rides. MS also has training rides at different locations that he and his club has rode.”

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system, which consists of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms vary in severity from person to person and may include numbness in the limbs, paralysis and loss of vision.

“Every time I ride and I have those aches and pains, they’re the ones I think about,” Stanfield said. “I think about the people in the wheelchairs and the walkers. I know they would rather be riding a bike than being in the position they’re in. It keeps me motivated.”

For more information about Stanfield and the event, visit nationalmssociety.org/goto/ larry30. 

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

By Stephen Cook

College president Joe Sop­cich may be in a new posi­tion, but he is not new to the college. Sopcich first started at the college in October of 1992 and has served in a number of roles before be­coming elected college presi­dent in May earlier this year.

In addition to his role as college president, Sopcich also continues his role as a teacher this semester. His class, BUS 121, Introduction to Business, meets on Mon­day evenings.

“My favorite part about teaching is learning about the students’ lives and rec­ognizing that these students have incredibly busy lives and some of the students are dealing with incredible ad­versity and how they’re deal­ing with that.” Sopcich said. “It’s always so impressive to me that they have the deter­mination and the grit to stick with it.”

Additionally, Sopcich said teaching allows him to expe­rience what the faculty expe­riences. Through receiving student feedback, he is also able to see how the college operates from that perspec­tive.

At the age of 45, Sopcich went back to school, gradu­ating at 50 with a PhD in higher education administra­tion and leadership from the University of Kansas.

“The role that education’s played in my life is critical,” Sopcich said.

Years ago, after graduat­ing from undergrad school, Sopcich said he couldn’t get a job. So he went back to school to get an MBA. He then got a job in Chicago in advertising.

Sopcich has worked a vari­ety of jobs, not just at the col­lege but in several different fields. Having been in fields ranging from education to advertising to sewage, Sop­cich said everything makes a difference.

“All that stuff adds up, it all creates a network of expe­riences and background that influences how you look at things,” Sopcich said.

Looking ahead to this se­mester, Sopcich has certain goals he wants to see accom­plished.

The first component of his plan is the announcement of some Key Performance Indi­cators (KPIs).

“Key Performance Indi­cators are very important to our accreditation process and how we introduce ourselves to the state,” Sopcich said. “Hopefully it’ll elevate our performance across many ar­eas that will ultimately ben­efit the students.”

Also, a “facelift” will be made to the college’s stra­tegic plan, since it has been about five or six years since the last update, according to Sopcich. The changes to the plan will be tied together with the KPIs.

“We’re also going to take a pretty good step back and kind of reassess our bud­get and where we’re at and where we need to go,” Sop­cich said.

Jerry Cook, Board of Trust­ees chair, said the challenges facing Sopcich this semester, both at the college and in the community, are acceler­ated compared to times in the past. However, Cook be­lieves this is a great opportu­nity.

“I believe that Dr. Sopcich is a relationship builder, and I believe that’s critical in to­day’s world,” Cook said. “I believe he’s got a personality that is going to really assist him in having people get to know him and he getting to know people.”

Elliot Rogers, president of Student Senate, said the group is hoping to have an open door policy in their communication with Sop­cich.

“We really want to keep information going back and forth; we want to have as much communication as pos­sible with him,” Rogers said.

Also, Rogers views this as a fresh start for both himself and Sopcich, both being new presidents in their respective positions.

“I actually feel this is a bit of a unique advantage in me coming into office here, be­cause not only am I a brand new president, but I get to step in alongside of a brand new faculty president,” Rog­ers said. “Neither of us have any customs, as it were, in how we’re going to run our positions.”

From a student level, Rog­ers said Sopcich has been willing to communicate.

“He’s showing us, demon­strating every time we meet with him just how much he wants to be a part of our ex­perience as students,” Rogers said.

Deb Williams, president of the faculty association, said Sopcich has been great about welcoming opportunities to meet with faculty during this initial process.

“We have been very pleased that President Sopcich has been very transparent with a lot of different items, includ­ing the budget,” Williams said. “He is really making great strides to involve fac­ulty in the input process and requesting feedback to a lot of initiatives that he has al­ready set forth.”

William also said he has re­ally “hit the ground running” and described his changes as “pretty significant”, given the short period of time he has been in office.

Working now and through the semester, Sopcich said probably his biggest chal­lenge is the demand on his time.

“The demands on one’s time is pretty critical,” Sop­cich said. “One of Dr. Cala­way’s pieces of advice to me was about the importance of maintaining a good balance in managing your schedule and he’s right.”

To relax, Sopcich enjoys spending time with his fam­ily, including his wife whom he’s been married to for 26 years, as well as following college football and running.

Sopcich’s focus is on being successful in accomplishing his goals this year, in the end benefiting students.

“It’s a real honor and priv­ilege to be in this position,” Sopcich said. “I’ve been kind of overwhelmed with the response I’ve received from members of the community and even internally. So you can never take that responsibility too lightly.”

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