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MCCC’s Mars

Exploration - Pg. 3April 25, 2013 Vol. 57, Issue 17

Board raises MCCC tuition 9 percent

Nixon’s life at MCCC, beyond By Carla CrockettAgora staff

After 20 years as a teacher of radio and television, David Nixon received a call that would change his life.

“I got a call one night from a firm that was looking for a presi-dent in Michigan and said, ‘You need to take a look at this job based upon your experience.’ ”

That phone call in 2003 led to Nixon’s appointment as MCCC’s fourth president.

He resigned in November, and his last day will be July 31.

Nixon grew up in Dakota City, a small Nebraska town with an area of only 1.2 sq miles.

“I got to attend a one-room country school,” Nixon recalled.

“Mrs. Krause would teach us how to dance,” whenever the weather was too bad to go outside, he said.

Growing up, Nixon would watch the local radio station’s DJ. Living in the country, the disk jockeys would actually broadcast in the middle of a farm field.

During the summer, while working on a nearby farm, he in-troduced himself.

“They were the ones that told me of a school that I could attend … in Minneapolis,” he said, “That successful training got me a job at a radio station.”

When he moved into television, one of his mentors suggested that he get a degree.

Besides earning his master’s in Mass Communications, he also earned his doctorate in Higher Ed-ucation Administration at the Uni-versity of South Dakota, which has helped him get to where he is today.

After 20 years in television and radio, he decided to become a teacher.

He said many people have influ-enced him, but the most influen-tial mentor was his mother, who worked hard all of her life.

See Nixon leaves - Page 2

Katie Mullin Agora Staff

Students will pay $8 more for each credit hour next year, following a decision by the col-lege Board of Trustees.

The meeting was held April 22 at the Whitman Center, MCCC’s second campus in Temperance.

Much was covered in the three-hour meeting, but the tuition increase consumed the most time.

“We’re recommending a 9.1 percent increase in tuition,” Su-zanne Wetzel, vice president of administration, told the board.

“We’re also recommending an increase in the technology fee,” she said.

The percentage translates to an increase from $84 to $92 dollars per credit hour.

The new technology fee will jump from $10 to $12 next fall. In the same semester, registra-tion fees will rise by $5.

Wetzel used a series of cal-culations as well as tables and graphs to explain why the board decided to increase tuition.

As student enrollment drops and revenue from local proper-ty taxes dwindles, the college’s revenue takes a plunge into a pool of deficits.

Wetzel said a 3 percent raise would still leave revenues in the negative by $305,980. A 10 percent increase would bump the total out of the negative range to $184,000.

“We only get into the position if we increase it to 9 percent,” she said.

“If we didn’t do anything, we would lose $586,980,000 in revenue,” Joe Verkennes said after the meeting. Verkennes is the director of marketing at MCCC.

Other sources of revenue and expenses, such as the college’s child care center, are being evaluated to avoid further tu-ition increases.

“There are other things we are still plugging at,” Verken-nes said.

“We’re between a rock and a hard place. There are stu-dents having a hard time pay-ing,” board member Mary Kay Thayer said about the tuition raise.

A motion was made to ap-prove the raise and it passed unanimously.

“This makes me sick to my stomach,” Thayer said, when the call to vote came.

On a brighter note, updates were presented on the new Ca-reer Technology Center (CTC) building and the Capital Cam-paign.

“The building is on schedule and should be turned over to us by the end of June,” Jim Blum-berg, director of the Physical Plant, said.

The building currently is 90 percent completed, he said.

Joshua Myers, head of the Capital Campaign, presented a robust outlook on the project, which is collecting funds to finance the Career Technology Center.

The total for the campaign is over $1.8 million, Myers said, with $67,000 donated by col-lege employees in the internal portion of the campaign.

“We’re 86 percent completed

on that constructed total,” he said.

At least 70 percent of em-ployees have contributed to the campaign, he said.

“These are people who haven’t received raises,” Myers said about the employees.

“That’s a huge story to us to be able to tell to donors,” he said.

The internal campaign will last until the end of May.

“I think we are the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

The issue of hiring a director at the Whitman Center also was discussed.

“We need a director,” said Judith Hamburg, of the Con-cerned Citizens for the Whit-man Center.

Hamburg also addressed a concern that Rachel Eagle, a part-time administrative assis-tant, will be on maternity leave.

“So I ask you, please get us a secretary,” she said.

Hamburg also criticized a new pilot model that involves leaving the director’s position open, instead staffing the facil-ity with administrators, deans and directors from the main campus.

Dr. Grace Yackee, Vice Presi-dent of Instruction and Randy Daniels, Vice President of Stu-dent and Information Services, reported earlier in the meeting about the structure’s findings.

“It’s appearing to be much more functional than the previ-ous structure,” Yackee said.

“I don’t see much interaction out of that office,” Hamburg said, as she argued about the ef-fectiveness of the model.

“You say a lot of nice things, but we need a director,” she told the board.

“We feel students are very well served. We want to be an effective model,” Yackee said.

As a result of the looming budget issues and lingering economic crisis, the Whitman Center will soon be closing its doors for the summer, begin-ning June 1.

“I am not happy about this, but I don’t see any options,” board member Mary Kay Thayer said.

A concern was raised whether students should call the center during the summer.

Yackee said phone service will be connected to an admin-istrative assistant on the main campus.

“There’s never a time when someone will not answer,” Yackee said.

Other developments:• A new professor will be

teaching in the Graphic Design field. A contract was approved for Bradley Hesser, associate professor of Graphic Design. His contract begins in August.

• Jennifer Yarger, instruction-al support technician, will be resigning from her post.

• Deborah Beagle, director of Financial Services, presented a report on an increasing num-ber of students who have been mailed notices for non-pay-ment.

• Vice Chairman William Braunlich initiated a motion to grant President Nixon “emeri-tus” status on his retirement, effective July 31, 2013. Motion was approved.

Photo by Carla Crockett

In an exclusive Agora interview, MCCC’s outgoing President Dr. David Nixon talked about his life before MCCC and what he thinks his life holds in the future.

Joshua RainsAgora Staff

Students, faculty and their families gathered in the Meyer Theater Wednesday night for MCCC’s annual Honors Re-ception.

The Honors Reception rec-ognizes the hard work put forth by students and faculty over the course of the academic year.

In addition to recognizing the efforts made by the various stu-dent groups on and off campus, the Honors Reception presents awards for the top students in their respective academic de-partments.

Other awards included the Dr. Ronald Campbell Student Government Award, Student of the Year Award, Faculty of the Year Award, and Adjunct Fac-

ulty of the Year Award. The Student of the Year

Award winner was Kaitlin Moore.

The Faculty of the Year Award winner was Dr. Ken Mohney.

The Adjunct Faculty of the Year Award winner was Scott McCloskey.

Winners of the Dr. Ronald Campbell Student Government Award were Lezlee Downing, student government campus li-aison, and Christopher Holmes, student government president.

Complete list of winners, Page 2

Tech Division moving into

CTC Pg. 4

MCCC celebrates Honors

Photos by Tim Green

Randy Daniels, Vice President of Student and Information Services, presents the All-USA Academic Team awards to Andrea Liedel (left) and Natasha Wickenheiser (right), at the 2013 Honors Night awards ceremony.

Theater professor Scott McClo-skey won the Outstanding Ad-junct Faculty Award.

The Faculty Association Outstand-ing Student Award went to Kaitlin Moore.

April 25, 2013 campus news mcccagora.com • The Agora | 2

Carla CrockettLezlee DowningSasa GavricTim GreenJobin DylanMelanie Jacobs

William MikoKatie MullinChristinie PettitJoshua RainsAngie SouvaJulia Wells

The Agora Editorial

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Staff Members

Nixon leaves after 10 years at MCCC (Continued from Page 1)

“Be nice to people, she always said that,” Nixon stated, “She would say even though something looks like a challenge or looks like it’s going to be difficult, try to look for the silver lin-ing.”

Another major influence on Nixon was Jim Billings, a retired president of a college in Iowa.

Billings gave Nixon his first job as an administrator of a community college.

“We need someone to work in an ad-ministrative position in our college that develops resources, and marketing for the college,” Billings told him.

“He taught me the value of collabora-tion,” Nixon added.

Nixon was an administrator for a community college the size of MCCC in Iowa . They found they had a need for a swimming pool.

The community and the college were willing to work together to get a swim-ming pool on campus for everyone to use, he said.

“That was a $4.3 million project,” Nixon said. “As a result, that campus

now has a wellness center that has a combined city and college library.”

When he retires, Nixon will have been MCCC’s president for 10 years. He talked to the chairman of the board last April about leaving, knowing that it takes time to find the next president.

“Once the search starts … the outgo-ing president is not involved in that pro-cess,” said Nixon.

Every president hopes to leave behind a legacy.

“I hope my legacy is what I’ve done for students,” Nixon said.

“My favorite moments are, of course, when the students graduate.”

Nixon suggests reading a book he has given to many students and colleagues called “Man’s search for meaning,” by Viktor Frankl.

Frankl’s memoir is about his struggle with surviving and escaping a Nazi con-centration camp.

When asked why he gives this book to so many people, he said it’s about overcoming obstacles. Though things look tough now, there is always a silver lining, as his mother used to talk about.

“There are more than 10,000 people in Monroe County that do not have a GED,” said Nixon.

People can definitely relate to having to overcome obstacles in their educa-tion.

As enrollment has grown, MCCC hasn’t received more funding, Nixon said.

“The greatest difficulty that a com-munity college faces in Michigan is that our funding is not driven by the num-bers of students we have,” Nixon said.

Over the last few years, MCCC has struggled to balance the budget with-out raising tuition, while still offering students an affordable education, Nixon said.

For example, the support staff agreed to take a pay freeze and hasn’t received a raise in four years, he said.

Despite the economic slump, the col-lege has continued to create job oppor-tunities for Monroe County and the sur-rounding areas, he said.

“In our welding grant, we placed more than 260 certified welders for great jobs,” he said.

Nixon also cited the college’s effort to create a new form of leadership called shared governance.

After two-and-a-half years of work, the college came up with three councils to replace the previous system, which had 17 committees. This includes a fac-ulty council, a support staff council, and an administrator council.

Proposals come through each of the councils, and are decided upon once a month.

“I have a great deal of respect for the faculty,” Nixon said.

“More than 80 percent of our actual, of our total funding here at the college, goes for paying our faculty and staff,” he said.

Nixon said he has had a great 10 years, teaching and also being taught.

“I owe the college a lot and the rea-son is because I’ve been going to school here at the college the last 10 years in this job,” he said.

“Thank you, Monroe County Com-munity College for giving me an educa-tion.”


The semi-finalists not only have a num-ber, but a name.

The MCCC Presidential Search Advi-sory Committee announced last week that eight semi-finalists have been selected in the search for a new college president.

All semi-finalists were grouped accord-ing to tracking numbers when the last meeting was held on April 17.

Confirmation from the candidates has been completed and their names have been released to the public.

“We have set aside two days for semi-finalist interviews,” Board Vice-Chair-man Bill Braunlich said.

The dates for these interviews will be April 29 and 30; they will be open to the public.

Plans have been set in place for the two days.

“My expectation is the majority of the work will be on the first day,” Braunlich said.

There will likely be five interviews on one day and three on the next, Braunlich said.

The interviews will be conducted via video conference and the interviewer will follow a script with questions.

The interviews also will be recorded.“Following semifinalist interviews in

April, the PSAC (Presidential Search Ad-visory Committee) will recommend final-ists for consideration and interview by the Boards of Trustees in May. Public forums on campus will also be scheduled for each finalist,” Braunlich said in an email addressed to all MCCC email users.

Board member James DeVries asked whether the interviews will be posted on thecollege website.

“I don’t think at this stage, ACCT rec-ommends it,” Braunlich said.

ACCT, the Association of Commu-nity College Trustees, is the consulting firm hired by the college to help with the search.

Below is a short description of the semi-finalists that are scheduled to be evaluated next week, according to an email from Braunlich.

Dr. Amy DeSonia, who serves as chief academic officer/dean of academic affairs at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson and Willimantic, Conn. Previously, she served as academic dean of the division of business, social scienc-es and public service at Tidewater Com-munity College in Norfolk, Va.

She earned a doctor of philosophy in public administration from Western

Michigan University in Kalamazoo, a master of public administration in health-care administration from Western Michi-gan University in Lansing, Mich. and a bachelor of business administration from the University of Michigan in Flint.

Dr. Carlee Drummer serves as execu-tive director of college advancement and executive director of the educational foundation at Oakton Community Col-lege in Des Plaines and Skokie, Ill. Pre-viously, she served as vice president of Lipman Hearne, Inc., in Chicago.

She earned a doctor of philosophy and master of arts in English from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a bachelor of arts from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

Dr. Utpal Goswami serves as vice president of instruction at College of the Redwoods in Eureka, Calif. Previously, he served as interim president/superinten-dent of College of the Redwoods.

He earned a doctor of philosophy in economics from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, a master of arts in Economics from SMU, a master of arts in development economics from Boston University and a bachelor of arts from the University of New Delhi in New Delhi, India.

Dr. Karen Hays serves as vice presi-

dent of academic and student affairs at Middlesex County College in Middle-town, NJ. Previously, she served as dean of academic affairs at Miami Dade Col-lege in Miami.

She earned a doctor of philosophy in educational administration from the Uni-versity of Texas in Austin, a master of education from Florida Atlantic Univer-sity in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a bachelor of arts from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla., and an associate of arts from Miami-Dade Community College in Miami.

Dr. Kojo Quartey serves as provost and chief academic officer of the City Col-leges of Chicago. Previously, he served as dean and professor at the College of Business at Davenport University in Grand Rapids.

He earned a doctor of philosophy in applied/agricultural economics from Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., a master of arts in economics from Morgan State Univer-sity in Baltimore, Md. and a bachelor of science in accounting from Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Dr. John Satkowski serves as the ex-ecutive vice president of finance/treasurer at Owens Community College in Toledo, Ohio. Previously, he served as interim

president of OCC. He earned a juris doctorate of law and a

master of science in accounting from the University of Toledo and a bachelors of business administration from the Univer-sity of Michigan.

Dr. Renay Scott serves as vice presi-dent and provost of Owens Community College in Toledo. Previously, she served as dean of the School of Arts and Scienc-es at Owens.

She earned a doctor of philosophy in curriculum and instruction from Wayne State University in Detroit, a master of arts in curriculum and instruction from Michigan State University in East Lan-sing and a bachelor of arts from Calvin College in Grand Rapids.

Suzanne Wetzel serves as vice presi-dent of administration/executive director of The Foundation at Monroe County Community College. Previously, she served as director of institutional ad-vancement/executive director of The Foundation at MCCC.

She earned a master of arts in public relations from Michigan State University in East Lansing and a bachelor of arts from Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant.

Committee names president candidates

Faculty Association Outstanding Stu-dent Award: Kaitlin Moore

Outstanding Faculty Award: Dr. Ken Mohney

Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award: Scott McCloskey

Dr. Ronald Campbell Student Award: Chris Holmes and Lezlee Downing

Outstanding Diversity Program of the Year Award: Seeds of Success

Business Student of the Year Award: Samantha Ford

Outstanding CIS Student: Marius Na-saudeanu

The George Roads Writing Fellow Award: Natasha Wickenheiser

Carol Kish Scholarship Award: Eliza-beth Sickler

Outstanding Nursing Student Award: Marie Deline and Mary Holtzen

Spirit of Nursing Award: Rachel Baron and Gretchen Vandenberghe

All-USA Academic Team Nominees: Andrea Liedel and Natasha Wickenheiser

Outstanding Respiratory Therapy Student Award: Helen Stripling

Industrial Technology Award- Prod-ucts and Process Technology: Sean Grif-fin

Industrial Technology Award- Me-chanical Design Technology: Christopher SetzlerL

Excellence in Journalism: Carla Crockett, Melanie Jacobs-Davis, Nicki Kostrzewa, and Bill Miko

Outstanding Journalism Award: Ka-tie Mullin

Outstanding Humanities Award: Na-tasha Wickenheiser

Outstanding Social Science Award: Katie Mullin

Outstanding Freshman Chemistry Award: David Stritt

Outstanding Organic Chemistry Award: Angela Pittman

MASS Mathematics Competition Award: Andrea Liedel and Brandy Pork-arski

President’s Academic Achievement Award: Stephen Banachowski, Monica Betkey, Kristi Follis, Veronica Gabriel, Molly Gaynier, Holly Herrera, Bethany Martin, Erica Rist, Maribel Simmons, Kenneth Stritt, Natasha Wickenheiser, and Cody Youngs

Outstanding Student Program of the Year Award: Student Nursing Associa-tion: Fundraiser supportJustin Ryan.

Adviser: Dan Shaw

Joshua RainsAgora staff

Scott McCloskey received the Out-standing Adjunct Faculty Award at MCCC’s Honor Reception.

McCloskey has been teaching at MCCC since 1997, and is a full-time teacher at Monroe High School.

Dr. Grace Yackee, Vice President of Instruction, presented McCloskey with the award.

“His students described him as help-ful, dedicated, and humorous,” Yackee said.

“Students praise his classes for the knowledge they offer and the skills they build,” she added.

McCloskey was surprised to receive the award.

“I had no idea I was going to win the award,” he said. “Any of the nominees would have been a worthy recipient.”

A poignant moment in the presenta-tion was when Yackee read from a stu-

dent review commenting on McClos-key’s performance as a teacher.

“He is a phenomenal, engaging teach-er. I was lucky to have him,” Yackee

read. McCloskey’s passion in not limited to

the classroom.In addition to teaching English Com-

position, Acting, and Theater classes at MCCC, being a full-time English teach-er at Monroe High School, and direct-ing plays at the college, McCloskey is active in theater outside the institutions.

He has wrote two screenplays, per-formed in theaters across the state, wrote a novel, and directed several plays, written by the likes of William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett.

The Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award is selected by a committee at MCCC. The winner receives a $250 stipend for professional development activities.

The other nominees for the award were: William Barr, Melody Carmi-chael, Stephen Gagnon, Pat Lambrix, Cherilea Morton, Dr. Tami Steveson, Michael Trohimczyk, Larry Bell, Kel-ley Colston, Jeffrey Hill, James Luciow, Shane Spaulding, Dawn Stewart, Dawn White, Lori Briggs, Asad Farah, Jill Lambert, Mitchell Steils, and Benjamin Tallerico.

By Katie MullinAgora staff

Anthropologist and archaeologist Dr. Kenneth Mohney was named MCCC’s outstanding faculty member at Honors Night.

Dr. Mohney joined the Monroe Coun-ty Community College faculty in 2004. A professor of sociology and anthropol-ogy, he has taught at least 10 different classes within the fields of anthropol-ogy, archaeology and sociology.

Dr. Grace Yackee, Vice President of Instruction, began by presenting a short background on Mohney’s credentials as an archaeologist and anthropologist.

“Dr. Mohney is actively engaged in archaeology clubs,” Yackee said.

That includes acting as the advisor of the Archaeological Society of MCCC. He has also held flint knapping ses-sions. Flint knapping was a tool-making technique used by pre-historic cultures.

“Dr. Mohney is a noteworthy schol-ar,” she said.

Mohney has authored and co-au-thored approximately 30 publications, as well as peer reviewed articles.

Yackee described Mohney’s commu-

nity service record as “impressive”.“I have to thank everybody who got

me here,” Mohney said to the crowd at the award ceremony.

Some of the people he thanked were students both past and present.

“Dr. Hadeen gave his highest recogni-tion of this award without reservation,” Yackee said about Dr. Paul Hadeen,

dean of the Humanities/Social Sciences Division.

“I don’t know what to say,” Mohney said after receiving the award.

“I think about all the truly outstanding faculty here. There are some outstand-ing candidates,” he said.

Mohney enjoys spending time with his wife and three kids when he is not teaching.

“I like to cook,” Mohney said about his interests outside his field.

Some current projects he is working toward include conducting field school work at the Adams site, an archaeo-logical project in Temperance, as well as managing reviews with the North American Archaeologist.

“This is stuff I enjoy,” he said.Additional nominees for the Faculty

Award included: Alex Babycz, Lori Jo Couch, Dr. Melissa Grey, Dr. Dean Ker-ste, Felice Moorman, Nicholas Prush, Lori Bean, Tim Dillon, Dr. Joyce Haver, Edmund LaClair, Dr. Carrie Nartker, Scott Wang, Bonnie Boggs, Dr. Maris Fonseca, William Hilliker, Dr. Ken Mohney, Dr. Patrick Nedry and Gary Wilson.

Honors Night awards

By William MikoAgora staff

MCCC’s Outstanding Student for 2012-2013 is Kaitlin Moore.

The award, given at the end of every academic year, was present-ed at Honors Night in the Meyers Theatre in the La-Z-Boy Center.

Dr. William McCloskey, Profes-sor of English at MCCC, presented Moore with the award.

Moore has been a writing fellow for five semesters, organizes events

such as poetry night and bake sales, and excelled in her academics this semester, McCloskey said.

She will be graduating after this semester and moving on to Univer-sity of Michigan in the fall, as an English major.

Other nominees for the Outstand-ing Student Award were; Veronica Ard, Jessica Bussell, Chris Butson, Samantha Ford, Andrea Liedel, Melissa Mosser, Angela Pittman, and Natasha Wickenheiser.

Kaitlin Moore: outstanding student

Anthropologist Mohney named top faculty

Scott McCloskey wins adjunct faculty award

Agora photo by Tim Green

Dr. Kenneth Mohney receives the Outstanding Faculty Award from Dr. Grace Yack-ee, Vice President of Instruction


William MikoAgora Staff

A suicide awareness seminar at MCCC allowed people to gain knowledge on a subject that is usually swept under the rug.

Jayne Davison, Chairwoman of the Monroe Coun-ty Suicide Prevention Committee and a professional grief counselor with Gaby’s Ladder, headed the lec-ture.

Davison said that in 2012, Monroe County had the number one rate of suicides in Michigan; 22 people in Monroe County were suicide victims.

“This is not a dress rehearsal; we only pass this road one time,” Davison said.

The seminar was held at MCCC on April 10, in the A building, and was open to students and faculty members.

According to Davison there were 800,000 suicide attempts in the U.S. in the years 2010 and 2011.

The goal of the seminar was to raise awareness about suicide. Davison said that it is important to know about the risk factors, and to understand the warning signs.

Risk factors that were listed during the seminar included mental health issues, alcohol or substance abuse, and feelings of hopelessness.

The presenters said the seminar was held so that people would feel more comfortable with the topic

of suicide, and so that people would be able to be comfortable enough to ask what is going on.

The seminar was put together by Melissa Grey, Assistant Professor of Psychology at MCCC, along with the Psychology Interest Group, a club for psy-chology students.

Two women who were personally affected by sui-cide spoke at the seminar.

“It is hard when you hear there are warning signs, because if you are not educated on them, what are you supposed to do,” one of the survivors said.

She went on to say that many people who commit suicide don’t understand how their actions affect ev-eryone around them.

Students who attended the seminar said it was in-formative.

The presenters also talked about how to help some-one who is dealing with depression.

Gabby’s Ladder is a main resource in Monroe for grief counseling. Gabby’s ladder also extends grief education and support services to schools, churches and the community.

For more information on Gabby’s ladder you can visit their website at www.Gabbysladder.org

If you know anyone struggling with suicide and feel at a loss on what to do, you can visit the follow-ing website. http://monroe.lib.mi.us/suicide_preven-tion.

Juila WellsAgora Staff

The MCCC Mars Exploration Stu-dent Data Team competed on April 18, 2013 for a scholarship against five other Michigan collages.

The scholarship would allow the students to travel to Washington D.C for the 2013 Planetary Geologic Mappers Meeting.

Luke Cline and Tim Hattis present-ed their theories to a group of college professors from the math and science department and teleconferenced to NASA scientists, as well as scientists

from labs around the nation. They picked a region of Mars and

created a hypothesis regarding wa-ter on the planet, particularily in the Aram Chaos region.

The team used minerals and other evidence to test their hypothesis.

Highlights from their presentation included their use of Thermal Emis-sion Imaging Systems from NASA to dertermine what happened on the surface of the planet.

They also used CRISM imaging to identify areas of the planet that may have held water.

The students have been work-ing on this project since October of 2012, and have been trained using the same tools as NASA’s top sci-entists in geology and mineralogy of Mars.

Assistant Professor of Geoscienc-es, Lisa Scarpelli, facilitated the team and gave them positive reviews.

“ I think they did a wonderful job working on two projects,” she said.

“All three of the individuals put a lot of time in over both semesters and were able to pull everything together for their presentations.”

Katie MullinsAgora Staff

The case of Julia Niswender is back on the radar screen.

A $10,000 reward is being offered to any-one with information that could lead to the ar-rest or the indictment of the person responsible for the 23-year old’s homicide.

The reward is sponsored by Duvall Group of Investigations. Jennifer Niswender, Julia’s twin sister, said the private investigator is a friend of the family.

A college scholarship fund for twins has also been established in Julia’s honor.

“Two weeks ago, we reached our goal of $ 10,000,” Jennifer said.

Julia and Jennifer Niswender were studensts at MCCC before transferring to Eastern Michi-gan University three years ago.

Jennifer said she will be part of the scholar-ship selection process, but it has not been de-cided yet how the money should be distributed.

“It depends on how many people apply,” she said.

Julia was found dead in her apartment on Dec. 11, 2012. She was missing for two days and her family did not know where she was until police came to check on her.

The case is still being treated as a homicide.Jennifer’s family released the cause of death

to the media on Tuesday, April 9. Julia died of asphyxiation from drowning in her bathtub.

Jennifer said she and her family had knowl-edge of what happened, but the final autopsy results were delayed until the family came back from a family trip to Florida.

“We needed a break. We needed to relax. We knew once we came back, these details were going to be released,” she said.

“We knew those details. We were trying to be prepared as best as we could.”

Jennifer said that an ABC News crew came to her house to interview her and her family.

A story will air on the TV show Good Morn-ing America, sometime soon.

“We want her face out there,” Jennifer said.“She deserves justice to be served. That’s

what we want.”Jennifer said she is glad that Julia’s story

is getting out, so people will know about the investigation.

Jennifer also said that the Detroit CBS sta-

tion has expressed interest in the story.Since the final autopsy results have been re-

leased to the media, Jennifer feels she is reliv-ing the past.

“You constantly have emotions running through you,” she said. “It’s hard to deal with all this again.”

However, after much speculation, the final autopsy results bring certainty in the case.

“In a way, it’s kind of a weight off our shoul-ders,” she said.

Police have interviewed over 100 people in the case. They have also conducted polygraph tests and each person has passed.

“We have a lot more people we need to inter-view. We don’t have any suspects at this time. This is a complex case,” said Lt. Deric Gress of the Ypsilanti Police Department.

“We are in good contact with them. They tell us what they can. You just have to learn to be patient,” Jennifer said about the police depart-ment.

Even though the incident occurred four months ago, Jennifer says she will remain close to her twin’s heart.

“I can feel her in me. I can see a lot of her character going on in me,” she said.

New information on Julia Niswender case

MCCC hosts seminar for Suicide Awareness

This THEMIS image shows that there is a small crater just to the side of a channel, which may have had flowing water running through it at one time.

Photo by Tim Green

Luke Cline and Tim Hattis presented their theories to a group of professors from the math and science department

$10,000 reward offered for help finding suspect


Byw Gary Van EckFor the Agora

MCCC’s Technology profes-sors are in a state of excitement over the opening of the Career Technology Center.

The center is scheduled to be ready for the start of Fall semes-ter in August.

Professors expressed their ex-citement when asked what the center means to them and how it will strengthen their teaching methods. They said that the East and West Tech buildings, where their classes are current-ly located, are out of touch with the changing technology.

“They no longer could pro-vide a quality education in the field of new demanding tech-nology,” Construction Manage-ment Professor Alex Babycz said.

“We will have more lab space, and more room in our classrooms,” Babycz said. “In-stead of depending so much on lecturing, students will be able to work more ‘hands on’ with what we will have available, learning through experience.”

The new technology in the CTC building will prepare stu-dents for employment in new fields, Babycz said.

“We will be able to keep pace with these new changing markets of employment in new technology jobs,” he said.

In the field of electronics and computer technology, much of the education program will be improved, according to Elec-tronics Professor Tom Harrell.

One of the problems with the East Tech building is the lack of space to work on materials.

“We are able to assemble our materials, but because of the space factor, I have to break them down. The students are unable to leave them assem-bled and have to leave class with their materials not broken down,” Harrill said.

“In the new building, students will be able to troubleshoot their projects, leaving them set up for a later time, because they will have room,” he said.

Harrill added that the future of jobs in the manufacturing in-dustry is very positive.

“People are saying that man-ufacturing will never come back, and all that’s left is the service industry. They are all wrong,” he said. “Students will be drawn to these new jobs, and they will become aware of new markets in technology and manufacturing.”

He said he’s impressed with the new CTC facility.

“The new building will be a show case,” Harrill said.

The new building has room for both current and new pro-grams. Some of the occupants

of the building are nuclear en-gineering, welding, construc-tion, computer-aided drafting, manufacturing, electronics, mechanical engineering, au-tomation, and automotive en-gineering. A new auto service program is planned, with em-phasis on hybrid and battery technology.

New equipment will be avail-able for teaching in the new building, including advanced courses in renewable energies such as wind, solar and fuel technologies, and green tech-nologies.

Martin DuBois, a professor of Mechanical Engineering Tech-nology, said the new building will help him with his style of teaching.

“I want to teach my students to learn,” DuBois said.

He said there have been dra-matic changes in the workforce.

“People are no longer em-ployed driving a truck for thirty years,” Dubois said.

“The way people will work in these new fields of technol-ogy will be growing with their company in new technological ways,” DuBois said.

One new feature in the CTC building is that classrooms have doors between them.

“This will be done to be able to share tools that are common between these two rooms. It is also done to be adaptable,” Du-bois said.

The professors are ready to make the move, which is scheduled over the next couple months.

“It’s going to be a hard, tough move over to the CTC building. We still are taking some of the materials from W and E build-ings,” Dubois said.

The CTC building is made to be adaptable for various pro-grams of study. For example, the walls can be knocked down and moved and tools can be put on rolling carts for sharing.

“They would never be able to set a 4,500 pound robot up in W or E buildings,” DuBois said.

Despite concerns that robots may be putting people out of work, Dubois defended their role in manufacturing.

“It is the fact that quality product can be made without mistakes if worked on by ro-bots. People even have to be around to see that the robot works right and continues to make quality product,” DuBois said.

Each of the instructors said they are excited about the new CTC building because it will allow students to learn more by experience than by just lectures and books.

It will be more of a “hands on” experience.

Faculty members excited about new CTC building

By Julia WellsAgora staff

A new discussion involving printing privileges may concern some students.

Though there has been talk for many semesters now, a college task force is closer to a decision on charging students to print on college printers.

Manager of Information Systems, Bri-an Lay, said though they have not reached a decision, the issue is being actively dis-

cussed. “To date, the task force has not con-

cluded its discussion regarding the sub-ject, and we are still gaining input from campus via council meetings,” he said.

One reason the college is considering charging students to print is student abuse of the printers and supplies.

“There has been some in the past” said Karen Kuhl, lab coordinator in the com-puter lab in West Tech.

Fees for printing may come as a shock to MCCC students, although many other colleges have implemented some sort of charge rate for the use of their paper and printers.

Freshman, Zachary Porter, who regu-larly uses the RCTC and its printers, hopes they can find a fair solution.

“Charging students to print will not only affect their success at college but it will affect them financially,” he said.

“I suppose giving the students a limit

on how many pages can be printed for free would be acceptable, but it would have to be reasonable.”

One proposal would allow students a certain number of pages free before a per-page fee kicked in.

Freshman Ryley Bourbina is against the idea completely.

“I think that would be stupid,” she said. “We’re already paying to go to school here, at least let us print out our assign-ments.”

Sophomore Mary Hawes is also con-cerned about the extra cost to students.

“We already spend a lot of money on books and supplies and shouldn’t have to pay for print paper for classes we already pay for,” she said.

A decision will likely be reached by Fall semester 2013, Lay said.

Let us know what you think at www.mcccagora.com - vote in the poll on the website.

Printing fee worries some students

Movin’ on inBy Melanie Jacobs-DavisAgora staff

The long anticipated opening of the Career Technology Center is drawing near.

The status of the building is right on sched-ule, according to Jim Blumberg, director of the Physical Plant.

The CTC was 93% complete last week; all that is left to do is the finishing touches to the interior and the new furniture and equipment moved from the current facilities, Blumberg said.

The equipment is scheduled to be moved into the facility, department by department, through the end of the week of June 17.

“The plan is for divisions to start moving over there later, toward the end of May,” said Director of Marketing, Joe Verkennes.

MCCC posted the move schedule for the CTC on Blackboard. It breaks down the com-plex task of filling the massive 60,000-square foot building.

April 5, packing materials were provided by the movers and labels for the classrooms, labs and offices were delivered to faculty.

Labels for large equipment will be deliv-ered the week of April 22.

April 22-26, pre-move meetings are sched-uled with each faculty member to ensure all items are properly packed and ready for the move.

Shred bins for confidential materials have been provided to ensure they’re safely re-moved.

The road around the building will reopen by the end of June, and the landscaping will

begin in a week or two, Blumberg said.“We’ll take ownership by the end of June,”

he said.Verkennes said his work on DTE Energy’s

Fermi I historical display, which will be lo-cated in the building lobby, is slated to be completed by the middle of July.

“By the time I do that, everything is sup-posed to be pretty much wrapped up,” he said.

The state-of-the-art facility is on track to be open for the fall 2013 semester, he said.

Tech Division ready to occupy new homeAgora photo by Katie Mullin

Workers put the finishing touches on a classroom in the new Career Technology Center, which is nearly ready for faculty to move in.

Agora photo by Katie MullinThe lobby of the new CTC building is nearly ready for debut.

Crilley wows Whitman crowd By Autumn Jacksonfor the Agora

Illustrator and author Mark Crilley gave a creative presenta-tion at the Whitman Center on April 22.

A Detroit native, Mark was always drawing as a child and throughout high school. He even-tually attended college at Kalama-zoo where he met professor and fellow author and illustrator Da-vid Small.

“I grew up receiving a lot of praise for my work. When I showed my drawings to David, I got the occasion ‘This one is okay.’ I couldn’t believe he called my work just ‘okay’,” Mark re-called.

One important lesson Mark

wants to get across in his presen-tation is that a mentor is not neces-sarily a cheerleader.

After graduating college in

1988, Mark left to teach English in Taiwan. After backpacking through countries such as Nepal and India, he took a job in Japan at the age of 25.

During his stay in Japan, Akiko on the Planet Smoo was writ-ten. Upon his return to American Akiko became a 53 issue comic book series.

Invited by Random House Pub-lishing, Akiko turned into a chap-ter book and was published in 2000.

“I loved the classic story lines of Wizard of Oz and Alice in Won-derland where the main character steps into a whimsical unknown land, and that’s what I did with Akiko”, Mark said.

Mark has gone on to publish

books such as Brody’s Ghost, the Miki Falls series, and books on tips for drawing and illustrating such as Mastering Manga.

Mark has received 13 Eisner award nominations and Scholas-tic released a special edition of Brody’s Ghost which was a first for Dark Horse Editing.

At the end of the presentation the audience collectively made a five panel comic book strip based on the audience’s suggestion.

Mark ended the presentation with some words of advice.

“Buckle down and work on your skills.” He said.

More information can be found on Mark Crilley’s website, www.markcrilley.com. Photo by Autumn Jackson

Mark Crilley displays his talent to audiences.

Mastering Manga offers tips on drawing and illustrating.

Schedule for moving into CTC buildingDepartment How long it takes Completion dateWelding One day May 17Mechanical engineering Half day May 21Metrology Half day May 21Materials Science 1 day May 22Electronics 1 day May 23Computer Aid Drafting Half day May 23Construction Half day May 29

April 25, 2013 mcccagora.com • The Agora | 5 Feature


The food stamp program has been revamped, pushing some students out of the grocery line.

The program is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assis-tance Program (SNAP), and is operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The program provides assis-tance on a temporary basis to low-income families and individuals, according to the state Department of Human Services.

However, the food stamp pro-gram has not stamped its sign of approval on all students.

FoxNews reported that 30,000 students were dropped from the program because they were no longer eligible to participate.

Michigan Department of Hu-man Services Director Maura Corrigan said in the article that the move was an effort to reform the state’s welfare program. There were also reports of students who did not need food assistance and were abusing the program.

Under the new rules, students who do not work at least 20 hours per week became ineligible for food benefits. A few exceptions remain, such as parents caring for small children, single parents, and students who are enrolled in a work training program.

Before April 1, 2011, if you were a student enrolled part-time in an accredited institution, you became eligible to apply for the food assistance program.

In Michigan, food assistance comes in the form of a debit card called a Bridge card. Money is loaded onto the card to be swiped at a card machine in a supermar-ket.

One MCCC student, Shari Boles, is an example of how the change is affecting students.

“I have an understanding they need to fix it, but they’re doing it the wrong way,” said Boles, an adult student who is completing her education at MCCC.

In addition to being severed from food aid, she has also been bumped from a free cell phone program — a federal government program that provides a free refur-bished phone to assist individuals with finding employment and for

emergency use. Shari said she has worked near-

ly all of her life. While in school, she held two jobs to cover expens-es with rent, bills and tuition. She also said that many workplaces do not guarantee 20 hours per week on a consistent basis.

“I feel like I’ve put my fair share in the system, and I need help,” she said.

Boles became unemployed and tried to get a position that would fulfill the 20-hour requirement. Boles said that many employers who say they work with college students change their position —

you may work 60 hours one week, or barely 18 hours another.

“That’s pretty hard when you are a full-time student, or frustrat-ing if you are part-time,” she said.

When Boles was in the process of finding a job, she consulted Michigan Works — a workforce development agency that assists job seekers throughout the state.

“I was at Michigan Works all the time,” she said.

She said she filed approximate-ly 200 applications there. Her last full-time job was working at a hospital as a certified nurse’s aide. Boles said the nature of the work

there has taken a toll on her body. She has now found an assistant

manager’s position at her apart-ment complex. In addition, the mother of two adult sons currently shares an apartment with her boy-friend.

“We’re not living rich,” she said ,about her present living condi-tions.

“In fact, at one time we were al-most homeless. We just started to get on our feet,” she said.

“What upset me the most is when I applied in October 2012 it took them (Department of Human Services), three months to com-plete my application, and by the time I was notified that I did not qualify as a student, I had already started my winter classes. With the class hours spread throughout the day and week, it was very dif-ficult to find an employer to work around my hours,” she said.

As tuition rates have risen and employers are slashing hours, the

student demographic is feeling the economic pinch.

“Everything is affecting every-thing. That’s a group that won’t speak up,” she said.

Boles said she does not un-derstand why the Department of Human Services would target students when they will be ‘giv-ing back’ toward the economy after graduation. DHS adminis-ters food aid, cash assistance, and Medicaid.

“No one should have to make a choice of either worrying about starving or getting bad grades,” she said.

Despite her hardships, she con-tinues to move forward.

“I also want to let people know not to feel sorry for me. I can sur-vive! I worry about the younger students who don’t know where to find help.

“Two main places to start would be the Monroe County Opportuni-ty Program, and the Monroe Sal-vation Army,” she said.

Not only has she voiced her complaints to her caseworker about the issue, but has also con-tacted government offices in Lan-sing.

Despite the rants, she offered solutions to the ongoing problem.

“I would look at the student’s credit hours,” she said.

She mentioned that caseworkers should not only look at employ-ment status, regardless of hours, but consider volunteer work as an alternative.

Valerie Culler, director of finan-cial aid, said she is aware of the issue.

“It’s an unknown variable,” she said.

“It seems like the sort of thing that puts up a roadblock. We’re supposed to be about moving bar-riers and this is a roadblock,” she said.

Culler offered alternatives as to whether or not a student should receive food aid.

“Perhaps they should take into consideration good progress,” she said.

Culler said if students are ex-celling in their studies and are on pace to graduate, perhaps that should be considered.

Government leaders should ac-count for those possibilities, she said.

“It’s not that unreasonable to think that type of information can be exchanged,” she said.

“I feel like I’ve put my fair share in the system, and I need help.”

Shari BolesMCCC Student

“That’s pretty hard when you are a full time student, or frustrat-ing if you are part-time.”

Shari BolesMCCC Student

Photo by Katie Mullin

Shari Boles is one of the thousands of students who has been cut from the food stamp program.

Nicki KostrzewaAgora Staff

Many people are now catching on to the new sensation of elec-tronic cigarette (e-cigs).

It all started back in 2003 when Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, invented the e-cig. It was to be seen as a safer and cleaner way to smoke.

The e-cig is a battery-powered device that lets you inhale the nicotine, but only releases water vapor.

Some say that there are many positive things about these e-cigs. For instance, there is no first or second-hand smoke, which is the number one complaint from ev-eryone who opposes smoking.

There is no tar, which is the harmful part of the cigarette that goes strait to the lungs and harms the teeth.

E-cigs are also low cost, which, with the up and down works of the economy and lack of jobs, is a smoker’s dream.

At A Clean Cigarette in the Monroe Mall, there is informa-

tion available for anyone who has even just a simple question about what these cigarettes do and con-tain.

“All of the ingredients are things a person comes in contact with throughout your life,” said Renee Cunningham, a sales rep-resentative.

The ingredients include: pro-pylene glycol (which is in food, cosmetics, and medicines), nico-tine (found in tomatoes, potatoes, and some teas), glycerol, acetyl-pyrazine (found in coffee, tea, and beer), guaiacol, myismine, coti-nine, and vanillin.

Since the release of the e-cigs, many different changes have been made to the original thought and design.

At first, it was simply new car-tridges that contained the different types of flavors and amounts of nicotine.

Then e-liquids came to the surface. These liquids are what are in the usual premade car-tridges.

With these e-liquids, you can

find many different strengths and amounts of nicotine. One could also make their own mixtures, which may not be sold in stores.

With these new e-cigs, people kept developing newer versions and newer things to try. There naturally have been many differ-ent companies that say that certain products or “vaps” are not as good for you as others.

No matter what other people think, these e-cigs are adding more jobs around the country and giving everyone a new alter-native to smoking regular ciga-rettes.

The counter argument is still made that either way, the smoker is still smoking and therefore hurt-ing their health.

All of which is true, but with the e-cig one seems to smoke less and is clearly on the path to quit-ing.

However, no matter how inven-tive these new e-cigs are, people will keep coming up with new ways to help the smoker who wishes to smoke a little less.

Electronic Cigarettes come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. Most kits start out with a battery, a few cartridges, and a charger to get you started.

Changes deny food stamps to students

Information behind the electronic cigarette fad

William MikoAgora Staff

From banking to border patrol, MCCC’s third-annual Career Expo was filled with employment opportunities.

Employers such as Quicken Loans, Promedica, AFLAC, and much more were available to give information about their compa-nies. Every company that attend-ed the expo is actively hiring.

The job fair took place Friday, April 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students and residents of the area filled the health education build-ing with resumes in hand, ready to work.

Barry Kinsey, Director of Work-force Development at MCCC,

said that the third-annual Career Expo was a success.

“This was the biggest in terms of employers and participants,” Kinsey said.

Kinsey went on to say that the number of participants was down this year from 500 to 350, but he also said that the participants were better prepared for work than in

the past.“The employers were very im-

pressed with the qualifications of the participants,” he said.

A total of 87 organizations at-tended the expo, 71 of the com-panies were employers with job openings.

The other 16 organizations were colleges and local workforce ser-

vices.“This gives students the oppor-

tunity to talk to employers that are actively seeking employees,” said Kinsey.

Michigan Works! was one of the service providers that attended the expo.

They offer local workshops at their Monroe Service Center.

The workshops include free information sessions, job search networking, perfecting your re-sume, and much more.

A list of the employers who attended the event and their available positions are avail-able on the college’s website for those students who could not at-tend the expo.

The Office of Workforce Devel-opment assists students in finding employment.

Barry Kinsey said that there will be three free resume work-shops during the summer, May 8, June 18, and August 21.

Their office is located in the Lifelong Learning Center, in the Lay-Z Boy building.

Also, you can visit their homepage on the college’s web-site where you can find local job postings.

The Office of Workforce De-velopment, and events like the Career Expo, allow students to network, and build a resume for the professional world, Kinsey said.

Expo helps students look for employment

“This gives students the opportu-nity to talk to employers that are actively seeking employees.”

Barry KinseyDirector of Workforce Development

“The employers were very impressed with the qualifications of the participants.”

Barry KinseyDirector of Workforce Development

“I have an understanding they need to fix it, but they’re doing it the wrong way.”

- Shari Boles MCCC Student

April 25, 2013 A&E mcccagora.com • The Agora | 6

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Joshua Rains Agora Staff

With special effects galore, Morgan Freeman offering wis-dom, Gerard Butler providing eye candy, and a strong support-ing cast, Olympus Has Fallen has something for everyone.

An action-packed-thriller, with an almost believable plot, the film is a definite success.

The plot focuses on a former Secret Service agent (Butler), try-ing to save the President (Eckhart) from a group of Korean-born-ter-rorists who have taken him hos-tage in a bunker located inside of the White House.

Freeman plays the Speaker of the House who is forced to act as President when the Vice President and President are unable to per-

form their duties. The film is loaded with intense

military combat, and awesome fight scenes.

The acting is good, and the spe-cial effects are impeccable.

My only problem with the film is how easy the terrorists were able to siege the White House.

Anyone with even the scarcest knowledge of the defense capa-bilities of the United States knows that it would be a much more chal-lenging task to overtake the White House, than what is portrayed in the film.

The terrorists use an American aircraft to provide air support,

before storming through the front gates of the White House with ground troops.

This will never happen.Never.The last time anyone was able

to do significant damage to the White House was 1814, during the war of 1812.

This part of the movie was down right silly.

Once one is able to get past that nearly comical concept, the film delivers everything the viewer wants.

Among action films released in 2013, Olympus Has Fallen stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Christine PettitAgora Staff

Spring Breakers is by far the trashiest and most entertaining movie I’ve seen all season.

This is your warning, this movie is incredibly inappropriate.

Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Cotty (Ra-chel Korine) and Faith (Selena Gomez) have been friends since grade school and are now stuck together in a boring college dorm.

In the search for some excite-ment the girl’s come to realize that going to Florida for spring break would be the perfect opportunity. All they need is the money…

The minds of these unique young women don’t work the same as most. In order to come up with the money they paint water

guns black, put on ski masks, and borrow a friend’s car to rob a local diner.

When they get to Florida the madness never ends. When they come into contact with rapper “Alien” (James Franco), more chaos unfolds.

Like I said, this movie is enter-taining but in the most ridiculous and raunchy way.

I wouldn’t necessarily con-sider this a date movie, but I also wouldn’t recommend paying to see it yourself.

Disney would be rather dis-appointed with their past stars. Smoking, stealing, and sex are certainly things they were sure to stay away from; which may be partially why it was hard to take these roles seriously.

It also might be because people don’t really talk and act the way the characters in the movie did.

Though credit must be given where it’s due, playing these roles couldn’t have been easy or com-fortable, for that matter.

I couldn’t take the role of “Alien” seriously for a second. I

laughed at moments that I doubt the direction had intended to be humorous.

I can’t tell if James Franco is over-acting in this movie to make fun of rappers such as Riff Raff, or if he just took the part as seri-ously as he does with everything else he does.

And then Gucci Mane came out of the woodwork and just pushed the movie over the top, and off a cliff.

Needless to say this movie pro-vokes some mixed feelings.

If you’re in the mood to giggle, and have nothing better to do, go ahead and give this movie a chance.

But whatever you do, do not watch this movie with your par-ents. Or anybody else who has any respect for you.

Spring Breakers impresses fans

Selena Gomez walks down the carpet for the premier of Spring Break-ers, where she plays a college student called Faith.

Olympus thrills audience

April 25, 2013 Editorial mcccagora.com • The Agora | 7

Dylan JobinAgora Staff

Have you ever been in class for what felt like hours, only to find that there is no clock in the room?

That’s a common feeling around campus, so common, in fact, that it has spawned a sort of conspiracy.

Several students believe that the lack of clocks is to help the stu-dents focus more on the class and not when they can leave it.

The more sinister beliefs range from it’s a way to make school like a prison, to having no clocks make us easier to mind control.

It is well known that casinos do not have clocks on the floor so people don’t know how much time they spend there.

Is there a connection between shady casino practices and our humble college campus?

That’s not very likely. A simple Google search reveals

that this is somewhat of a com-mon problem.

Anonymous students from a board on 4chan talk about their colleges all around the country.

“Aside from it being torture for me not to know what time it

is, I think it’s weird. This isn’t a casino, it’s a UNIVERSITY,” said one anonymous person.

But that wasn’t the only outrage expressed.

In a thread discussion going several hours, more and more people from every corner of the U.S. came to complain.

From Maine to Florida, Texas to Oregon, wall clocks appear to be an overlooked as an essential part of school life.

“I go to Washington State, and this is such a common complaint that we had a bake sale to buy more clocks,” another anonymous user said.

Most classrooms on the MCCC campus have no clock whatso-ever, and the rooms that do often have clocks with no batteries or the wrong time.

In modern times most people use cell phones to tell time any-way, but when you are in the ce-ment basement classrooms of the C building, no signal goes to your phone telling it what time it is.

In a setting where students must run down two flights of stairs, across campus, and up another two flights, knowing the correct time can save you from being late.

Not just for class, but for a doc-tor’s appointment or even your job.

In an effort to find out who is re-sponsible for maintaining clocks on campus, several people includ-ing the Administrative Assistant to the Manager of Information Systems Rebecca Libstorff was confused.

“I have no idea who you could ask about that,” She said.

The problem is, no one does. There is no clear answer for why there are so few clocks, but it seems to be a benign problem. Most students don’t notice and those who do don’t seem to care.

Salvador Dali’s famous paint-ing “The Persistence of Memory” hangs before the entrance to The Cellar. In this painting there is the largest collection of clocks on campus, and all those clocks are melting. Who knows?

Maybe that is what happened to the missing clocks too. The logi-cal conclusion to this clock co-nundrum is probably the simplest: with everything else going on around campus, putting in clocks just isn’t high on the priority list.


Piss on the floor, pee on the seats, unflushed toilets, and un-touched faucets; step inside a men’s bathroom at MCCC and you’ll be sure to find all of the above.

When did we forget what our parents taught us? Aim for the toilet, flush it when you’re done, wash your hands, and be on your way.

It’s really not a difficult con-cept to grasp, but perhaps some of the male students and faculty at MCCC were never taught proper men’s room etiquette.

If you fall into that category, fear not; help has arrived.

Here is a set of guidelines to help you become a model citizen in the men’s bathroom.

First, when you enter the bath-

room wash your hands! Yes, be-fore you use the toilet.

People pick up lots of germs wandering the hallways of MCCC, and you don’t want to spread those to your private parts.

Next, make your way to the ap-propriate station for your body waste needs.

Before choosing which urinal or stall, survey your surroundings; if the urinal to the far left is open and the far right is occupied, do not choose the middle. Nothing is more creepy, or uniformly looked down upon, than the person who crowds another in the bathroom.

Now that you’ve made your choice, it is time to do the deed.

While you might consider your-self an expert with a lifetime full of experience, it is still paramount that you maintain your focus.

A small lapse in judgment could

lead to a sticky tile underneath the urinal for hours; don’t be that guy.

Next is the simplest and most overlooked step: FLUSH THE TOILET!

No one wants to add to your urine collection, or look at your leftovers in the stall.

It creates an odor and there is no excuse for not flushing after you go.

After you flush, make your way to the sink and wash your hands one more time. Dry your hands off, make sure your paper towel lands in the trash and your job is done.

It is not hard and the time has come that all of the men at MCCC respect one another enough to practice proper men’s room eti-quette.

Clocks missing around MCCC

Men learn bathroom etiquette step by step

Photo by Josh Rains

In the lower L-Building’s men’s bathroom, this is the site one would see if they walked into the first stall.

History professor plans talk on Temperance period

Assistant Professor of History Edmund Le Clair will be presenting at talk on the history of the Tem-perance Movement in Michigan on May 23 at 7 p.m.

The presentation will focus on how the move-ment to end drinking in America has been connect-ed to Christianity, women’s rights, and both liberal and conservatives politics in not only our nation, but in our state.

MCCC wins second in Robotics Challenge

Congratulations to Bob Leonard, advisor of the SME Robotics student club, and his students Josh Roach, Dylan Boudrie, Zach Szabo and Danny C. Bowels III for receiving second place in the Sumo Robot Challenge.

This post secondary National Robotics Chal-lenge level contest was held at Marion, Ohio April 20-21. The project was funded by a grant from the Foundation at MCCC.

Drama Club performance scheduled this weekend

The MCCC Drama Club will be presenting two, One Act plays written by Christopher Durang.

The Shows are called “The Actor’s Nightmare” and “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls.” The guest director is John Bacarella.

The show is located in MCCC Campus Building C, Room 3, The Little Theater, Saturday April 27, at 7:30 pm and again on Sunday April 29, at 3 pm.

Regular admission is $5, and Senior/Student ad-missions is $4.

LAL offers students help with technology

The Learning Assistance Lab will be holding a workshop for students to use the latest electronics.

There will be demonstrations and assistance to students and community members for iPads, Li-veScribe pen, Nook reader, Kindle Fire, and Kin-dle Fire HD 8.9.

The next workshop will be held on May 13 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Students could also schedule individual “Aca-demic Technology Assistance” appointments in the LAL.

Seussical brings laughter, joy to Meyer Theater

Dr. Seuss’s Seussical will be held again this year at MCCC on April 26 at 7 p.m.

Tickets will be $7 for general admission. Tickets for the event can be purcheased at www.

monroeccc.edu/theater or in person at the Cashier’s office in the Administration Building.

Paul W. Smith to hostWJR morning show here

A special broadcast of the Paul W. Smith Show at MCCC Friday will focus on the many strengths of Monroe County, new local initiatives, and sum-mer travel and tourism opportunities.

The overall theme this year is “Pure Monroe,” as the show kicks off the third year of the award-winning advertising campaign developed jointly by Monroe County Community College, Monroe Bank and Trust, Mercy Memorial Hospital Sys-tem, Monroe Publishing Company and the Mon-roe County Chamber of Commerce.

The broadcast, which is free and open to the pub-lic, is part of Smith’s annual Pure Michigan Tour of broadcasts at tourist destinations around the state.

Leatherman comes to MCCC ‘Tunes at noon’

Join MCCC’s Student Government and enjoy lunch with singer songwriter Preston Leatherman.

The event will take place on Monday April 29, from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Tunes at noon is a regular noon concert hosted by Student Government.

Briefly:

Sasa GavricAgora Staff

North Korea; a barking dog or a biting dog?

After a long time of relative peace on the Korean peninsula, the North has started threatening to break the ceasefire agreement of 1953.

The war between the two Ko-reas is technically still going on to this day, because a peace treaty was never signed.

The two countries have man-aged to live in “peace’’ for seven decades, but now the young lead-er of the North seems to be out to prove himself.

More than once, Kim Jong-Un has been in the media with violent statements in which he threatened South Korea and even the United

States. It is not clear if missiles can

reach any U.S. soil, but Guam might be a potential target.

While North Korea does not seem like a direct threat to the United States with its current missle capacity, there is a fear that the North is pursuing the develop-

ment of nuclear arms. Japan and South Korea seem

to be the most likely targets, and therefore both countries are on high alert.

South Korea is the natural ri-val, and with the North viewing the recent movement of Southern troops as a threat, it is easy to see why they would be a target.

If the North launched a nuclear attack on the South, it could be a problem for both countries, be-cause of their close proximity.

Japan is the western country closest to North Korea, and would be another potential victim of northern agression.

Japan has a history of coloniz-ing the Korean peninsula, which could be viewed by Kim jong-un as a valid casus-belli.

North Korea has caused a stir on US soil as of late, causing a lot of people to look at it with new eyes.

North Korean outbursts, reactions

Preston Leatherman

Did you know…You can finish your bachelor’s degree on the MCCC Campus! Siena Heights University has a degree completion center right here on campus! Undergraduate classes available in: •Accounting •BachelorofAppliedScience •BusinessAdministration •MultidisciplinaryStudies •ProfessionalCommunications •Psychology

Graduate classes available in Leadership. Contact Siena today at (734) 384-4133 or stop by our office in L-221.

Siena


No coach? Check. Young tal-ent? Check. A high draft pick? Check. Cap space? Check.

The Detroit Pistons have all of the ingredients needed for a dream offseason.

After two miserable seasons, Lawrence Frank is out as head coach, and filling his vacancy is the most pertinent item on Joe Dumars’ to do list.

Several quality candidates are out there: Pacers assistant Brian Shaw, former Cavaliers coach Byron Scott, former Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy, and Spurs lead assistant Mike Budenholzer are the most likely candidates for the Pistons.

The Pistons wouldn’t be wrong hiring Budenholzer, Shaw, or Van Gundy, but perhaps a name left off that original list could make an even bigger impact; Bill Laimbeer.

The former Pistons bad boy would bring instant credibility to the locker room, having won two NBA titles as a player with the franchise, serving as an NBA assistant head coach, and winning three WNBA championships as head coach of the Detroit Shock.

After hiring Bill Laimbeer, Du-mars could switch his focus to free agency.

The Pistons will have near $25 million in cap space.

Team owner Tom Gores expects Detroit to be in the playoffs soon, and will not hesitate to spend money in order to do so.

“Tell the world, we’re ready to spend,” Gores told reporters.

With lots of cap space and a willingness to spend, Detroit can make a major impact in free agen-cy this summer.

Detroit needs help on the wings. They need size, shooting, and ath-leticism.

Enter in the Smith cousins. Atlanta Hawks forward Josh

Smith, and his cousin J.R. Smith currently playing for the Knicks, could give the Pistons an instant upgrade on the wings.

Josh, with his size and athleti-cism, and J.R. with his scoring and shooting ability, would make the Pistons a likely postseason contender when paired with De-troit’s dynamic young big men Greg Monroe and Andre Drum-mond.

With their needs on the wings filled through free agency, Detroit could upgrade its point guard situ-ation in the draft.

Marcus Smart from Oklahoma

State and Trey Burke from the University of Michigan are the top two point guard prospects in the draft.

Adding college basketball’s player of the year would make the Pistons one of the brightest young teams in the league.

With a starting lineup of Trey Burke, J.R. Smith, Josh Smith, Greg Monroe, and Andre Drum-mond, the ability to bring Bran-don Knight, Kyle Singler, Khris Middleton, and Jonas Jerebko off the bench, and head coach Bill Laimbeer, the Pistons would be a top 4 team in the east.

Pistons look forward to offseason change

Gordon and Wallace left Detroit after the 2012 season. Stuckey, By-num, and Maxiell could be following their footsteps in 2013.

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8 The Agora Sports April 25, 2013

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April 25, 2013