Welcome back...and a few thoughts

Welcome back to all, and just a welcome to all the new students!
Chris Carter has left me some very large shoes to fill when he stepped down as editor. I only hope that I can continue the upswing this paper has seen in the recent past. You know what they say, two steps forward, one step back. The Olympian saw two large steps forward with Chris, and Jon Miller before him. I think we can make a third step forward, and part of that will be you, our readers.
We want to know what you want to hear. If you hear about something on campus that you think we need to know about, let us know. I would rather be told about something three times than not at all. You can find us at our website, in our office, on Facebook, in this blog or via e-mail.
Let your voices be heard.
Speaking of letting voices be heard, I have something else to say. Well, I always have something else to say, but one more thing for now.
Olympic College has spent time, money and effort to provide people who smoke with a designated place to do so. There is a reason for this. Where smokers have made a conscious decision TO smoke, many others have made a decision NOT to smoke.
Non-smokers should not be forced to be exposed to second-hand consequences for others' decisions. Whatever the reason someone decides to smoke, they should at least have enough respect for others to keep their habits to the designated areas.
Three times TODAY I have been stuck walking behind someone on campus who was enjoying a between-class cigarette far from the designated areas. If smoking is so much a part of your day that you can't spare a few extra minutes to go to a smoking shelter, then build that space into your schedule.
Also, for those who do go to a smoking shelter, I appreciate it, but could you please wait to light up until you get there? Smoking it on your way there is still rude.
I appreciate everyone who abides by the rules. I am not going to ding smokers for their habits, but please, please respect those who abstain and stick to the designated areas.
Alright, soapbox is securely stored in the overhead bin.

Until next time!
Alex

Child Care Lottery

Free money for child care. Just another way Olympic College is trying to alleviate the financial burden for students attending OC.
The Child Care Lottery was first introduced in Winter Quarter 2009 and is offered quarterly at the Poulsbo and Shelton campuses. Board of Trustee member Douglas Sayan was the advocate for student parents at these campuses. He insisted something be done since the campuses these student parents attend are too small to support their own child care programs.
Director of the Child Development and Family Center Rhodes Lockwood, along with Vice President of Student Services Richard Maclennan came up with the idea for the Child Care Lottery, which Lockwood stresses, "the awards are meaningful, but not intended to cover the entire expense of child care."
In its first quarter, 23 students were awarded child care compensation. Students taking six or fewer credit hours were awarded $100 and students taking more than six credits were awarded $200.
Students interested in applying must have children enrolled in a licensed day care and will need to fill out a simple half page application. For more information or to receive an application, you can contact Rhodes Lockwood at (360) 475-7191 or rlockwood@oc.ctc.edu.

Kathy Bray

College: it is what you decide it will be

When the word “college” is murmured, what sort of images come to your mind? Are they visions of rustic ivy-laced buildings gently lining a majestic green landscape as endless rows of sweater vests inquisitively trod brick walkways? Or are they visions of a much more honest environment?

One thing I have always found to be amazing about Olympic College is the sheer pedagogic diversity of its students. People of all age, shape, background and lifestyle can go to OC for as long as they want, or, for that matter, an explicably short amount of time. They can get a general degree, or they can even get certification for a trade of their choosing.  They can take a full schedule of classes, or they can take something here and there to slowly work towards something else. When all is said and done, it could be argued that OC is merely a stepping stone in a greater picture of things. All these varying mannerisms of studying have been making me wonder; where does OC fit in the standard perception of college life?  

OC offers many of the things that make up the collective idea of the “college life.” Sports, clubs, extracurricular activities and student government are in no short supply at this quaint little campus of ours.  It all comes down to the personal choice of the student whether to participate or not.

I think age plays a relatively large part in this issue. The walkways of traditional 4 year schools tend to be lined with the faces of the young and unhinged. While, at OC, a great deal of the student body is composed of people outside of the standard college age. This includes older students with children and families, whose priorities greatly differ to those of more “average” students. And let us not forget the running start students who are yet to receive their high school diploma.

The concept of the transitional college is something critical to consider, like I stated earlier, OC can be seen as merely a stepping stone in the grander picture of things. Most students are working to attend a different school or to get into a profession and probably are not too focused on their surroundings.

When it comes down to it, the OC experience is a completely non linear endeavor. As cliché as this sounds it is simply what you make of it. If you want to involve yourself in the affairs of your campus you can, or if you just want your education and nothing else, there isn’t a thing stopping you from achieving that.

Matt Fields

Clark College faculty denied tenure...on what grounds?

Howdy all, Chris Carter here.

Before I begin my post on an interesting story that comes out of Vancouver, I want to share something with our blog readers, a sneak-peak if you will. I will be stepping down as Editor of The Olympian effective spring quarter and will hand over the role to Alex Vincent. I will continue to work as Managing Editor and be an integral part of the staff.

And now to the story which you can read here and here. Apparently, the newspaper adviser at Clark College was denied tenure and the reason(s) have not yet come to light. The story is interesting because it mentions that the faculty member, Christina Kopinski, had a spotless tenure record and was recommended the much coveted job security award unanimously by her review board. The board of the college however saw it a different way.

The president of the college has said that the articles written in the newspaper, The Independent, had nothing to do with the board's decision to deny tenure. Ever since Kopinski got on board at Clark, things have been rocky. Her "hard-nosed" approach and a series of stories shedding not-so-great a light on the administration made her an easy target for the Board of Trustees. As I said before, the college is denying that anything The Independent published persuaded the board to make the decision they did, but something still seems fishy.

Naturally, the decision to deny tenure is going to be called a personnel issue and likely not discussed openly so we may or may not get to ever see why the board made their choice. Either way, the college can expect to face some tough scrutiny as Kopinski and her staff (and others around the state) prepare to challenge the ruling. Kopinski has already filed for a grievence stating that she believed her contract was violated. On what grounds? That's unclear but I am eager to see what happens.

On a note closer to home, but oddly related, Michael Prince, the Journalism professor and adviser to The Olympian was recently granted tenure along with 12 other Olympic College faculty. Congratulations Mike!

I will be sure to keep you folks apprised on the Clark College situation. I plan on making a few phone calls up there and stirring a few hornets nests all the while. Until next time!

-Chris Carter

Rangers v. Bellevue GAME 4

The Rangers are set to take on their old division rival Bellevue at noon.

Here you can view a live blog, updated in real-time:



-Chris Carter
Editor

The Rangers take on the Chemeketa Storm...Game 3

Read live blog coverage here beginning at 4 p.m.:




-Chris Carter
Editor

The Rangers Vs. The Thunderbirds....NWAACC GAME 2

---Update---

The Rangers lose to Highline 78-95.

The Rangers will play tomorrow at 4 p.m. Opponent has yet to be determined.

-Chris Carter










Kennewick, Wash., --- The Olympic College Rangers are set to take on the Highline Thunderbirds today at 2 p.m. By my understanding, if the Rangers lose today's round, they will be out of the tournament. Stand by for confirmation on that.

Eastern Washington (Warning: tangent coming) is experiencing some odd weather, as I have heard other areas of the state have. Yesterday it was sunny and VERY windy. It changed to rain without wind and then a torrential downpour.

This morning it is sunny and relatively no wind, so we will see how it goes. How is the snow situation back West?

Due to technical difficulties, we will be unable to conduct the radio broadcast/live blog until further notice. (Note to self: GET A WIRELESS CARD!)

Anyhow, it is about 4 hours until game time, and I will try and update with some pre-game goodies for you all.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned.

-Chris Carter
Editor

RANGERS IN THE TOURNAMENT: GAME 1 (WIN)

Kennewick, Wash. - The Olympic College Rangers are playing the Mt. Hood Saints at the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges tournament in Kennewick, Wash.

Tip off this morning was at 8 a.m. and the Rangers were plagued with sluggish motion and sloppy passes early on, but quickly warmed up making their free throws and challenging the Saints in speed and moving to the inside for the quick points.

As I write this, the Rangers are down by 3 with approximately two minutes left in the first half.

I will update soon. Stay tuned.

-Chris Carter
Editor

---Update---

As the Rangers move to the locker room I can enlighten our readers to some tournament details. The Rangers are playing a little more inside than normal. Their fade-away three point shots are being traded in for some inside moves, making the Saints work for their rebounds.

No exciting jams yet by the dunk masters J.B. Pillard (44) or Patrick Lewis (50). Perhaps we will see some more action during the second half...which by the way just started. Stay tuned.

-Chris Carter
Editor

---Update---

RANGERS WIN --- 80-75 over Mt. Hood.

The Rangers took advantage of turnovers by the Saints late in the second half pushing them ahead for the first win of the tournament. Although plagued by a relatively low free throw percentage during the last stretch of the post-season, the men stepped up to the line with confidence and sinked the free throws that sophomore player Tysaih Curry says were "crucial" to their victory.

The Rangers will play tomorrow against an undecided opponent at 2 p.m. I will hopefully be able to access our live blogging software (I was unable to this morning due to technical difficulties) so that you, the reader, can follow along live as the men go for their second win.

I will be publishing a full story complete with game analysis within the next few hours on our home Web site www.ocolympian.com.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading,

-Chris Carter
Editor

Let's try this again...

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges in Washington is working on the development of a new information system to store and maintain all the critical data used to support schools state-wide.
This is not news.
In fact there is nothing new about it. The SBCTC has been trying to replace their archaic HP3000 servers for more than five years and have thrown millions of dollars at the problem.
The last failed attempt was known as the Rehosting Project. The Computer Information Systems, a department that no longer exists, contracted with Hewlett-Packard to rewrite the software needed to manage the information and "rehost" it on a newer, more web-based server.
HP failed to come through on the deal and in June the project was canceled. The SBCTC wasted $14 million on the whole deal and had virtually nothing to show for it.
This time, the bureaucracy that's running this circus is being a lot smarter about building the hardware and software that will replace the existing 30-year-old system. Rather than arbitrarily building a dysfunctional system, a consulting company, Collegiate Project Services, is surveying all 34 schools that are part of the system to figure out what would work best.
Wait. Hold on.
Does this mean that SBCTC paid $14 million on a contract without first doing a thorough assessment of the problem, then preceded to waste five years banging their head against the wall to solve it? Yes, yes it does!
So, as the title suggests, let's try this again.

Jon "M.F." Miller