News................ 1, 6Sports....................4Features................2Entertainment........3

Calendar.................6Campus Buzz.........5Staff Information.....5Classified Ads........6

Editorial..................5Opinions.................5Police Beat.............6 25

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Volume 76 Number 5 Copyright © 2010 Diablo Valley College - The Inquirer

Thursday, May 6, 2010

www.theinquireronline.com

See Title IX, page 6

Scott BabaStaff writer

Christohper C. LongStaff writer

Scrawled names like “Oats” or “Karne,” or even, “Jewels,” seem light-hearted, even innocuous. But they can be a warn-ing of gang activity and require hours of scrubbing to remove.

An Inquirer reporter and a former mem-ber of the Norteño street gang recently toured the DVC campus and found more than 90 separate incidents of graffiti not yet erased by the buildings and grounds department.

Prime pieces of real estate for such “tagging” included trash cans, tables, benches and utility boxes, particularly outside the Math building, the Library and the incline that leads to the buildings atop “Cardiac Hill.”

DVC’s official crime reports reveal few such incidents, but that is because most go unreported to campus police, said Lt. Tom Sharp of district police services.

In many cases, tags seen on The In-quirer’s campus tour appeared to be sketched over previously drawn tags.

Such graffiti can be a sign of turf com-petition, said Detective Bradley Giacoba-zzi of the Concord Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit. The MCU is charged with investigating gang activity.

See GANGS, page 6

Ariel Messman-RuckerEditor in chief

See ASDVC, page 6

Chris Knight holds up signs made by Students for a Democratic Society in defense of Brian Donovan, vice president of legislative affairs-elect, during an Election Committee meeting on April 29.

Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

Frank Runninghorse fights charges against the Progressive Demo-cratic Student coalition because of his actions during the election.

Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

ENTERTAINMENT Page 3

OPINIONS Page 5Voter Apathy Plagues Campus

Lack of interest in ASDVC election leads to lowest voter turnout in years

FEATURES Page 3

Summer VacationBetty’s

Hits theatre box office

‘ ‘Rec]ordingIn Progress

Behind the scenes of the DVC brodcast program

[

Brian Donovan, above, awaits the de-cision of the Election Committee at the April 29 committee meeting. Katerina Schreck, right, addresses the commitee.

As campus police stood guard and supporters of the accused waved signs defending free speech, an Associated Students of DVC committee found three candidates in the recent student govern-ment elections guilty of an Elections Code violation.

In a unanimous decision April 29, the Election Committee ruled that Francisco Hinajosa, Nick Holmes and Brian Dono-van – all members of the Progressive Democratic Students coalition – violated section 7.04 of the Elections Code, which states candidates are “responsible for the actions of the campaign committee, whether authorized or not.”

The committee was expected to rule May 4 on two additional alleged violations against the same candidates, as well as hear two against the opposing coalition, UAID (Uniting ASDVC, the Inter Club Council and DVC), too late for The Inquir-er’s press deadline.

All of the allegations against the three were brought forward by Adrian Briones, current ASDVC activities coordinator and the losing candidate for the position of webmaster in the recent elections. He ran on the UAID ticket opposite the PDS can-didate.

Briones’ complaint stems from a leaflet handed out during the election by Frank Runninghorse, a DVC student and mem-ber of Students for a Democratic Society, a club to which both Donovan and Hol-mes belong.

In the flier, Runninghorse endorsed the PDS coalition and criticized the oppos-

DVC may have violated Title IX with its plan to shut down several sports pro-grams because of budget cuts, according to complaints filed with the Contra Costa Community College District and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights.

One of the two complaints, head tennis coach Peter Benko, said Tuesday he had received a message from the OCR say-ing it was expanding its investigation to Los Medanos and Contra Costa colleges, in addition to DVC.

The Inquirer was unable to reach OCR investigators by its press deadline.

Benko and Daniel Cruz, head track coach, allege the elimination next year of men and women’s track, cross country, and tennis will drop the proportion of fe-males in DVC athletic programs from 39 percent to 38 percent.

Sports possiblysaved byTitle IX

Code vs. free speech ‘Unauthorized’ flier violates ASDVC code,

group claims violation of free speech during electionGangs and ‘wannabes’ stake claims

LEARN BY DOING2

Thursday, May 6, 2009

Tucked away in the DVC engineering building, a mini broadcasting studio is filled with cameras, props and other equipment.

Downstairs, about 30 students scramble to make set backgrounds, test the cameras and double check that the sound is functional.

Two girls tape paper to the wall to create a

background against which the guests and hosts will stand.

Three cameras face the stage, ready for the action to begin, and monitors in the corner display images of what appears on the cameras.

Upstairs in the control room, students attend to the technical aspects.

An hour later, filming of DVC’s variety show, “The Cave,” is underway.

“It’s kind of like a job,” Nicholas Jefferies, 20, said

later. “Everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing.”

The class is a combination of three classes – beginner, intermediate and advanced – that meet together.

“Advanced students pretty much become the teachers to the beginners,” Jefferies said. Students can take the class up to three times in order to move up to the advanced level.

“In the beginning, I

recommend the new students shadow the advanced,” said instructor Kristy Guevara-Flanagan. “It’s pretty hard. If you don’t do well, you probably won’t take [the class] again.”

From the control room upstairs to the “live room” downstairs, jobs are assigned for each project and alternated so students get a taste of different roles during a production.

So far, students have made a public service announcement and a variety show.

The latter included such guests as a fire-spinner and a snowboarder.

“[This was the] first project where everyone has come together,” Jefferies said.

Guevara-Flanagan said, “Students learn a lot. It’s a pretty jam-packed class.”

The first full-time instructor for the class in the past eight years, G u e v a r a - F l a n a g a n has produced several documentaries and short films, including “Going on 13,” which aired on PBS.

She is currently working on a documentary about Hurricane Katrina, titled, “A Village called Versailles,” and a documentary about female superheroes

called, “The History of the Universe as told by Wonder Woman.”

“She brings energy,” said program chair Ken White of Guevara-Flanagan, “She has a lot of focus and plans.”

“That’s hard to do with the part timers, who come and go.”

The next scheduled project for the students is a news broadcast.

“Get to know us because we might be famous one day,” said Kat Ranillo, 19.

Advertisement

Julie GeorgeStaff writer

Robert Holsinger operates a camera during the recording of the broadcasting class’ music video assignment on April 29, 2010.

Sergio Martinez and Natalie Cheung work on graphics for the music video project on April 29, 2010.

Photos by Chris Corbin / The Inquirer

Contact Julie George at jgeorge@theinquireron-line.com

Students explore the world of broadcasting

3Thursday, May 6, 2010

DVC’s final play of the semester, “Betty’s Summer Vacation,” de-lighted the audience opening

night with its blend of strong sexual content, drama and some violence.

Written by Christopher Durang, the satiric comedy is a play that pretends to be a TV show, with current music and a laugh track that interacts with the cast members throughout the play.

Set in the ‘90s, it’s the story of city girl Betty (Ally Tippery), who longs for some peace and quiet and signs up for a summer timeshare with friend Trudy (Kirsten Dwyer), who never stops talk-ing.

Upon arrival at the beach house, a mysterious laugh track of three voices makes fun of the girls, while unexpect-ed guests show up at the house.

First to arrive is Keith (David McEuen), a gay serial killer who carries a hat box that ends up filled with body parts.

Next is the crazy and talkative Mrs.Seizmagraff (Annie Diehl), Trudy’s wild mother, who denies that Trudy’s father molested her as a child.

She is followed by a horny, hunky meathead named Buck (Patrick Ward), whose main objective is to get laid as much as possible.

The last uninvited guest, Mr.Vanislaw (Radek Antczak) is a perverted flash-

er Mrs. Seizmagraff met in the ladies restroom while he was taking photos.

The gang partakes in a game of cha-rades that turns into a whirlwind of vio-lent chaos.

Directed by Will Springhorn Jr, the talented cast of nine delivers with en-thusiasm and personality.

Tippery stays in character as Betty during the 15-minute intermission, in-viting members of the audience to spin for her during a game of Twister.

Sexual tension runs rampant through-out the play, with the characters even-tually stripping down to their underwear or less.

As Buck, Ward dances on a table during the game of charades with only a trench coat and an octopus that cov-ers his private parts.

“Betty’s Summer Vacation” is a guar-anteed pleaser that will leave audience members howling with laughter and wondering, “Did that really just hap-pen?”

It continues through May 23 in the smaller Arena Theatre next to the Per-forming Arts Center. Show times are 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Those under 17 are not admitted due to explicit con-tent.

‘SUMMER’OF

LOVE‘Betty’s Summer Vacation’ titilates audiences with its raunchy humor

Contact Julie George at juliegeorge@theinquireronline.com

Advertisement

Julie GeorgeStaff writer

Photos Courtesy of / Ed Trujillo

Trudy, played by Kirsten Dwyer, appears in DVC’s new play “Betty’s Summer Vacation” which will run through May 23, 2010.

Betty, played by Ally Tippery, is the star of DVC’s new play written by Christopher Du-rang.

Annie Deil, portraying Mrs. Siezmagraff, appears in “Betty’s Summer Vacation“ directed by Will Springhorn Jr.

4Thursday, May 6, 2010

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Captain swims onward

After swimming for 11 years, Jim Albertson ended up one of the two captains for DVC’s men’s swimming team.

Last year, he was named an All-American and voted most inspirational by his team-mates.

Prior to DVC, Albertson swam at College Park High School for four years, three of which he spent on the

varsity team. In his fifth semester, Alb-

ertson co-captains with team-mate Taylor Herman.

“He cares a lot about the sport,” Herman said. “And he’s committed to getting bet-ter by training hard.”

Head coach Rick Millington echoed Herman’s praise, say-ing Albertson has the quali-ties they look for in a

leader.“[He’s] at every practice. He

works extremely hard,” Mil-lington said.

Millington met Albertson the summer before his senior year in hopes he would swim for DVC.

“We talked him into swimming the

distant events and he excelled at them,” he said.

His mother, a former swim-mer herself, encouraged Al-bertson to follow in her foot-steps.

“[It’s] one of the most fun swim teams I’ve been on,” Al-bertson said of his DVC expe-rience.

He will continue to swim while attending Mesa College in Grand Junction, Colo. on an academic scholarship.

Contact Carrie Soldati at csoldati@theinquireronline.

Final round for DVC tennis

At the Northern Cali-fornia Regional tennis tournament this past weekend in Santa Rosa, Marissa Neighbour, Jen-nifer Buchholz, and Annie Cheng advanced to the second round for wom-en’s singles.

Cheng and Neighbour, who competed together in doubles advanced to the second round in the doubles tournament, de-feating Monterey Penin-sula College 6-1 and 6-4.

Nick Bezzubchenko and Michael Saucy, who competed in doubles for the men’s team, lost 6-1 and 7-5 in the first round and could not advance.

At the end of what may be DVC’s final tennis sea-son, the men have strug-gled with a 3-11 record, while the women’s 9-3 re-cord speaks for itself.

“For the women, it has been a spectacular sea-son,” said head coach Peter Benko.

The women’s team fin-ished second in the con-ference, while the men sat

in fifth place. Both teams consist of players who qualified for the Northern California Regional Tour-nament.

Freshman Kelby Tittel, one of five players on the women’s team to q u a l i f y , attributes her team’s s u c c e s s to its chemistry.

“A lot of teams aren’t as close as we are,” she said. “ W h e n y o u ’ r e playing for a team, it’s differ-ent from when you’re just playing for yourself.”

Tittel is one of three women to qualify for the tournament in both sin-gles and doubles.

DVC’s tennis teams, as well as men and women’s track and cross-country teams, fell victim to the college’s budget crisis and were eliminated in-definitely, beginning fall

semester 2010.Bob Manalo, the assis-

tant coach who worked extensively with the wom-en’s tennis team this sea-son, attributes its success to hard work.

“It was all about p u t t i n g in the work and g a i n -ing the expe r i -e n c e , ” he said.

T h e s t r u g -g l e s of the m e n ’ s t e a m , h o w -e v e r , can be

linked to its inexperience, as many of last year’s players have transferred.

“We lost a lot of play-ers, and the conference has been a lot stronger,” Benko said.

Saucy, who competed with teammate Bez-zubchenko in doubles in the regional tournament, agreed that lack of expe-rience contributed to his

team’s downfall.“We struggled to close

out wins,” Saucy said. “We had the talent…We’re just inexperienced when it comes to match-es.”

Regardless, seven DVC players, two from the men’s team, and five from the women’s, com-peted in the tournament.

Although excited about the tournament, Tittel was wary of what the future holds for the program.

“I was so excited,” she said, “but it sucks be-cause it may be over af-terward …It’s really frus-trating.”

Bezzubchenko agreed: “I don’t like it at all. I’m trying to get recognized by schools, and I may not have anywhere to play.”

Contact Kamille Sim-mons-Turnquest at ksim-mons@theinquireronline.com

Carrie SoldatiStaff writer

Kamille Simmons-TurnquestStaff writer

“A lot of teams aren’t as close as we are. When you’re playing for a team, it’s different from when you’re just playing for your-self.”

- Kelby TittelTennis Player

Photos by Chris Corbin / The Inquirer

Photo Illustration / Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

Music defines us as human beings. Like stories or paintings, songs creep into the dark corners of our minds and bring pleasure, sor-row, joy or fear to the imagination.

But today’s music is too often bland, re-petitive, lack-ing spirit and seemingly only produced for the sake of sales. You hear it in the streets, from the inau-dible booming of rap and the chaotic thrash-

ing of guitars to drums that emanate from passing cars.

If you want to experience something dif-ferent, however, then come with me on a trip across the Atlantic to Northern Europe, land of snow, ice and contemporary Finnish metal.

Most songs written in this subcategory of metal deal with the fantastic or supernatural, such as Stratovarius’ “Babylon” (Babylon/ your memory haunts me forever/ it won’t leave me be), or “7 Days to the Wolves” by Nightwish (I will dream like the God/ And suf-fer like all the dead children), which is loosely based off of the fifth book of Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series, “Wolves of the Calla.”

There is blissful harmony in Finnish metal, something that is ignored by the majority of screamers and thrashers in heavy metal. Tar-ja Turunen, the former lead vocalist of Night-wish, for instance, is operatically trained. Listening to her fine voice accompanied by electric guitars, drums, and keyboards brings a tear to the eye.

The guitar chords of Finnish metal imitate the complex melodies of classical orches-tras, often employing violas, violins, and trombones. An example can be heard in the first two tracks of Sonata Arctica’s “Days of Grays.”

Contemporary Finnish metal provides a re-freshing alternative to the uninspiring drivel flooding the musical marketplace on this side of the Atlantic, but you won’t find it at your local Best Buy.

Your best chance at expe-riencing these metal excur-sions into the subconscious is either to travel to Finland or buy the albums online.

But please don’t pirate their songs. Musi-cians need to eat too. Even Finnish ones!

5Thursday, May 6, 2010

Did you vote in this year’s ASDVC election?

Kasia Kessler, 58Library Technology

“No, because I had no idea that there was a voting day. I never miss voting and it wasn’t ad-vertised very well.”

Emma Li, 19Communications

“Yeah, I did because I felt there should be some changes in ASDVC. It’s just like drama, drama, drama, and I want to see some changes, some positive changes.”

Jordan Stewart, 22Fashion

Merchandising

“No, because I don’t care.”

Interviewer: Julius ReaPhotographer: Courtney Johnson

Winner of the 2008 JACCGeneral Excellence Award

Editorial BoardEditor in chief: Ariel Messman-RuckerNews editor: Julius ReaFeatures editor: Scott BabaEntertainment editor: Troy PattonSports editor: Curtis UemuraOpinions editor: Jonathan RoismanOnline editor: Christopher C. Long, Annie SciaccaCopy editor: Nick SestanovichInstr. lab coordinator: Ann Stenmark Adviser: Jean Dickinson

StaffPhoto chief: Chris CorbinPhotographers: Travis Jenkins, Court-ney Johnson, Kate VasilyevaCartoonist: Christopher C. LongReporters: Oksana Yurovsky, Julie George, Carrie Soldati, Brian DeAnge-lis, Kamille Simmons-Turnquist, Travis Wonacott, Yuno Imai, Lina Pervez, Da-vid Matteri, Christian Villanueva, Chris Clark, Morgan Renteria, Josh Fathollahi

The InquirerDiablo Valley College

321 Golf Club Road, H-102Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

The Inquirer is published on Thurs-day mornings during the school year by the journalism students of Diablo Valley College. All unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and reflect a two-thirds

majority opinion of the editorial staff. All signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artist and not necessarily those of the Inquirer, Diablo Valley College or the Contra Costa Community College District.

Phone: 925.685.1230 ext. 2313Fax: 925.681.3045

E-mail: inquirer@dvc.eduWeb: www.dvc.edu/journalism

www.theinquireronline.com

Student leaders fail to inspireOnly 626 students voted in the

recent Associated Students of DVC election, which was down more than 50 percent from last year.

Given a student body of some 20,000, the percentage of voters who actually made it to the polls would give news pundits heart failure, if this were a national election.

So what happened?Bill Oye, dean of student life

and co-adviser to the ASDVC, attributes the low turnout to a lack of understanding and ap-preciation for the role played by student leaders.

“Many DVC students don’t see the connection between ASDVC and campus decisions about programs and budgets which di-rectly affect their lives,” Oye told The Inquirer.

This is undoubtedly true.And it is compounded when

campaign promises are not kept, such as the on-campus health center last year’s winners vowed to make a reality.

But what else may have con-tributed to the lowest voter turn-out since 536 brave souls cast their ballots in the ASDVC elec-

tions of 2006? One reason may have been

the near invisibility of the elec-tion itself.

The two coalitions didn’t begin campaigning until a week be-fore the balloting. And given the dearth of campaign posters, it’s

a wonder voters turned up at all on election day.

It’s hard enough to keep track of due dates for class assign-ments, never mind memorizing when the ASDVC is holding its election.

This is a shame.Given the looming budget cri-

sis, we need leaders who will ral-ly the student body to vigorously oppose cuts that decimate our programs and services.

It would seem voter apathy this semester mirrored the apathy of those who ran for the positions on the ASDVC board. Each of-fice had no more than two can-didates, and four contenders ran unopposed.

It falls to the newly elected board members to make sure this doesn’t happen again next year. With a total voter turnout of less than 4 percent, a significant problem must be addressed.

Scandanavian metal perfect for Vikings

Christopher C. Long / The Inquirer

Part-time postions short-change students

David MatteriStaff writer

“If you want to experience some-thing different, however, than come with me on a trip across the Atlantic...”

Contact David Matteri at dmatteri@theinquireron-line.com

Imagine being a part-time teacher want-ing, perhaps needing to secure a respected full-time position after years of hard work and educational accomplishment.

Then you hear that 12 full-time instructors are retiring.

Finally, some good news?

Eh.Six of those 12

positions will be permanently cut to help with the budget crisis, and only three of the remaining six

are available for new hires, beginning Janu-ary 2011.

“I may not even be around next year,” one of my part-time professors recently told me.

“Really?” I said as I screwed up my face in befuddlement. “But I’ve been hyping your class to all my friends.”

“Tell that to the administration, if they’ll lis-ten,” his last word before he began the les-son.

DVC President Judy Walters’ decision to eliminate six full-time positions and delay replacing three others means more classes will be taught by part-timers. These instruc-tors must often teach at two or three colleges or even elementary schools to make ends meet.

And it leaves two departments – journalism and electronics – without any full-time profes-sors to teach or serve as department chairs next semester and perhaps for longer.

First-class education requires full-time commitment. Grading papers, planning les-sons or even running a department of a ma-

jor commuter school requires many hours of effort outside the time spent actually teach-ing students.

It is not fair to expect full-time work from part-of-the-time compensated staff, faculty or otherwise.

Yes, there is definitely a need to balance the school’s budget.

But trading full-time teach-ing positions for black ink is an insult to the hard work and long hours sacrificed by those we honor as educa-tors.

“It leaves two departments – journalism and electronics – without full time professors...” Christopher C. Long

Staff writer

Contact Christopher C. Long at clong@thein-quireronline.com

Jarrett Ramones, 19

English major

“No, because I found it pointless. Each can-didate was saying the same thing but in differ-ent ways.”

Checkout our newpodcasts atTheInquirerOnline.com

oriTunes

Your guide to all things entertaining

6Thursday, May 6, 2010

CALENDAR

Contact Christopher C. Long at clong@theinquir-eronline.com

Gangs...Continued from page 1

May 3, 2010LA 208A: A student reported her wallet was stolen from the campus. It was later found that an unknown subject(s) used one of the credit cards for an illegal transaction at a local store.

Overflow lot: A student reported that her vehicle was vandalized while it was parked in the lot unattended.

Silent Witness: Working together to solve crime The Silent Witness tip line provides a means of communication for members of the campus community to provide District Police with information ANONYMOUSLY without revealing their identity. Silent Witness hotline: 925-685-1230 ext. 1999 Lost and Found is located at Police Service. People who have lost items or have found items may come into Polic Services from 7:30-10:30 during the week.

Christopher C. Long / The Inquirer

Possible gang tags are appearing around campus, top, on a bench outside the cafeteria possibly claimed by the Norentos and Sure-nos and, bottom, in a stairwell leading to a library media conference room.

Corrections:In the article, “Bright Lights, Flashing Colors,” published in the March 25 issue of The Inquirer, the name of artist being profiled was mis-spelled. The correct spelling is Joseph.

In the article, “From the Corps to the classroom,” in the March 25 issue of The Inquirer, the at-tached photo was not labeled as a photo illustration.

In the article, “Sloppy game ends in loss,” published in the March 25 issue of the Inquirer, the original photo, which was used in The attached photo illustration, was taken by Kate Vasilyeva.

-ing UAID slate, specifically Briones and President-elect Katerina Schreck.

Of the three accused, only Donovan, vice presi-dent of legislative affairs elect, won his race. Hino-josa and Holmes lost in the contests for president and vice president of executive affairs respectively.

In ruling that the ac-cused had violated Sec-tion 7.04 of the Elections Code, the committee held them responsible for Run-ninghorse’s statements in the flier, since the code defines a campaign com-mittee as “persons actively campaigning for the candi-date, whether authorized directly or indirectly by the candidate.”

In an interview, Briones said: “We shouldn’t be at-tacking each other. Every-one has the right to say whatever they want. I’m not against freedom of speech, but you have to be able to follow the guidelines.”

But the more than 20 students who turned out for the April 29 meeting in support of the PDS candi-dates said otherwise, hold-ing up signs reading, “Stop the attack on democracy,” “Defend free speech” and “Drop the bogus charges.”

Keith Montes, a mem-ber of the PDS election campaign committee, ad-

monished the committee during its public comment section.

“A student’s right to free speech should never, ever be run over by any DVC election code,” he said.

Several campus police officers were posted out-side the door to the small meeting room in the Stu-dent Union as a precau-tion requested by ASDVC adviser Adriana Lopez, according to Ben Pradya, Election Committee chair and current ASDVC vice president of executive af-fairs.

Runninghorse, the three PDS candidates and many members of the public who attended the meeting, said section 7.04 of the Elec-tions Code is ill-written and violates their free speech.

“How can one person be charged with the actions of another?” Runninghorse said. “It’s collective punish-ment.”

In an interview with The Inquirer, Donovan said, “I don’t think [the Election Committee members] are looking into the long-term to how this could damage the reputation of ASDVC.”

Election Committee chair Pradya said he plans to amend the code in the future, but for now his committee will base all de-cisions on the code as cur-rently written.

Pradya told The Inquirer that as the code stands

Contact Ariel Messman-Rucker at amessmanruck-er@theinquireronline.com

ASDVC...Continued from page 1

right now, a candidate would be held accountable if The Inquirer had printed an editorial endorsing a candidate without getting the article pre-approved by the Election Committee.

“Candidates would still be responsible to at least inform me that they did not authorize The Inquirer to do that,” Pradya said.

The three PDS candi-dates are also accused of not following the Elections Code’s posting policy, as stated in section 8.01 of the code because they did not seek approval for the fliers Runninghorse handed out. The committee was to rule on that charge May 4.

But, at the April 29 meet-ing Runninghorse said that

even if PDS had attempted to stop him from handing his fliers out, he would not have let them.

The repercussions of any Elections Code viola-tions would affect Donovan more than the other two accused because, as the newly elected vice presi-dent of legislative affairs, he could be removed from his position, if found guilty by the committee.

Pradya, however, said this outcome is unlikely, as disqualification is the harshest penalty the Elec-tions Code allows.

Pradya said a letter of apology would be a more likely outcome, although he does not have a vote as the committee chair. Only

the four voting members of the committee can take action.

Briones filed an earlier complaint against PDS, and the coalition was found guilty by the Elec-tion Committee on April 20 of having violated sections 8.01 and 8.02 of the Elec-tions Code.

“[They] posted up flyers that were not stamped,” Pradya said. “Those flyers were supposed to be ap-proved.”

PDS was forced to re-move some of the flyers they posted, he said.

Daija Cornelious speaks out in defense of Progressive Democratic Students coalition members accused of Elections Code violations.

Courtney Johnson / The Inquirer

Title IX...Continued from page 1

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INFORMATION

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Copy and payment due the Monday before pub-lication date.

For more information call 925.685.1230 ext 2313 or stop by The Inquirer office.

Thursday, May 6 - 23Drama Performance“Betty’s Summer Vacation”Arena TheaterFridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.Sundays, 2:30 p.m.

UC Berkeley informationCounseling Center9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Saint Mary’s College Transfer questionsCounseling office10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Academy of Art University Transfer questionsMain Quad10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Brown Bag Lecture Series: AnxietySU 20412:30 p.m.

ICC Talent ShowPAC7 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Saturday, May 8 “Red Harmony Charity Concert”Red Cross ClubM 1017 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Tuesday, May 11CSU East Bay Transfer questionsCounseling Center9:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Saint Mary’s College Transfer questionsCounseling Center10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Brandman University of Walnut Creek Applications and questionsSRC Learning Commons11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Katerina Schreck, president

Chang Min (Kevin) Park, vice president of executive

affairsBrian Donovan, vice president of legislative

affairsTsz Ching (Chelsea) Cheung, controller

Alexis Terrill, secretaryRicky Wong,

parliamentarianChung Ki Cheng, public

relations officerLak Hak (Derek) Cheang,

activities coordinatorDaija Cornelious, minority

affairs officer Vanessa Poon,

webmaster

ASDVC Election Results

In addition, they say DVC hasn’t added any women’s programs in about 10 years.

An institution’s compli-ance with Title IX depends on a three-part test, only one of which must be sat-isfied, according to Val-erie Bonnette, president of Good Sports, Inc., a Title IX consulting firm.

The three tests are: 1) whether an institution moves toward or away from a more balanced gen-der-ratio; 2) whether it has shown a history and con-tinuing practice of program expansion for the under-represented gender; and 3) whether it accommodates the interests and abilities of the under-represented gender.

Bonnette declined to comment on the com-plaints, saying company policy would not allow her to do so.

In their complaint, Cruz and Benko argue that the cuts would push DVC out of compliance on all three parts of the test.

Benko said filing a griev-ance and an OCR com-plaint ensures a better chance for a fair result.

“The district can find out

whatever they like, but the OCR is a separate in-vestigation,” Benko said. “And they may come to the same findings as the district’s own investiga-tion, but it’ll be done by a separate, independent in-vestigation.”

Associate Vice Chan-cellor Gene Huff said he was surprised by the com-plaint.

“Obviously the district believed that when we eliminated the programs we were not violating Title IX,” he said. “But we’re taking the allegation se-riously and making sure we’re in compliance.”

Huff said the district’s own attorney is investigat-ing the complaint, along with athletics dean Chris-tine Worsley and interim vice president Donna Floyd.

Worsley could not be reached for comment on whether the college did a Title IX analysis prior to making the cut, but in an April 30 Contra Costa Times story, she was quot-ed as saying the programs with the least number of athletes were the ones chosen for elimination.

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Contact Ariel Messman-Rucker at amessmanruck-er@theinquireronline.com

Giacobazzi said it would not be surprising if tags seen around Concord spilled over into Pleasant Hill, given that DVC draws students from around the East Bay.

Sharp acknowledged that some of the tags could be gang-affiliated, but he and Giacobazzi speculat-ed they are likely the work of non-violent graffiti artists and also “wannabes.”

“Wannabes,” Sharp ex-plained, are people who aren’t necessarily mem-bers of a gang, but tag public surfaces with gang markings to pretend they belong.

One tag, found on a win-dow outside the Faculty Of-fice Annex building, clearly revealed the words, “Antes STM.” Giacobazzi said it is the name of a popular Bay Area tagging “crew” that has a website and whose work also shows up in Concord.

The former gang mem-ber, who would not allow his name to be printed for fear of retribution, con-firmed that an “X4” tag seen on a bench outside the Math building is one used by the Norteño street gang. An “X3” tag, found crossed-out on the same bench, means the Norte-ños took the bench from the Sureños, he said.

Norteños and Sureños are prominent, rival street gangs in the Bay Area, Gi-acobazzi said.

The Sureños started in the Los Angeles area, and the Norteños started in Northern California, ac-cording to knowgangs.

com. Another tag, this one on

an electrical utility box out-side the Physical Scienc-es building, says, “E$O,” which could be a tag for either the East Side Oak-land or East Side Oakley gangs, Giacobazzi said.

But the detective said the activity is “hit-or-miss,” and likely that of tagging crews and wannabes.

Maintenance assistant Andre Nash, DVC’s sole graffiti-remover, said he

spends 10 hours per week removing the tags.

Nash said the method and cost for removing the graffiti varies. It can be as simple as using a $4 can of “Goof-Off” or as complicat-ed as painting over deep scratches or replaceing surfaces altogether.

“It’s a lack of school pride,” Nash said of those who leave their mark.