THE COMMUNICATOR December 2006/January 2007 Dedicated to Informative Excellence Issue VII College Celebrates 2nd Annual In this issue: International Education Week Page 2 By The Communicator Staff Bronx Community College's Sec- ond Annual International Education Editorials: Week was celebrated from Monday, November 13th through Thursday, "What is Your GPA?" November 16th at various locations across the campus. The celebration was opened by our esteemed President Carolyn Grubbs PageB Williams who officially proclaimed the week a campus-wide event. Barbara Schaier-Peleg, Director of the Nation- Letter to the Editor al Center for Educational Alliances, who coordinated the week's activities along with Professor Andrew Rowan, provided an overview of the upcom- ing events. Page 4 The Ceremony was also the official unveiling of the "I Am BCC" poster campaign. The Center for Toler- • NYPIRG News ance and Understanding created this campaign to educate and inform our Writing Across the campus community about the many cultures represented on our diverse Curriculum campus. The campaign was headed by Director of Student Life Melis- sa Kirk and Special Assistant to the President Sahana Gupta. The selected PageS posters are on display in the Roscoe Brown Cafeteria. Photo by Jennifer Opoku Student and faculty study abroad • BCC Runners Goto Andrea Del Conte performs. experiences were a highlight of the morning's program. Dr. Vrunda Prab- Country Championships hu from the Mathematics Depart- ment and BCC graduate Charlotta • From the Transfer center The Soul of Dance McNaughton (currently a student at Lehman College) spoke about their experiences in Salzburg. Student — Flamenco Government Association Assistant By Jennifer Opoku dress with polka dots and a red Vice President Busola Obayomi dis- Page 6 scarf around her waist, and the cussed his study abroad experience On Thursday, November 16, other dancer was wearing a yel- in Argentina. Will Maier from the • OutSide the week long celebration of low/green/red white (multicol- Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange International Education Week or), ruffled dress. Andrea Del for Young Professionals (CDS Inter- came to a close. My Spanish Conte, Artistic/Executive Di- national, Inc.) discussed a program New York C which allows students to spend a year **» class had the privilege of attend- rector of the American Spanish ing the closing ceremony. Dance Theater, one of the two in Germany. Dr. David Gordon, from seum City There were four performers, dancers, welcomed all in atten- the History Department and an ad- a man with a guitar, a male solo- dance and gave us a lesson on visor for the STOCS study abroad ist and two women dancers; one the history of Flamenco, an ex- program, spoke about the program he dancer was wearing a brown represents. Continued on page 9 Also on hand to distribute informa- Page 7 tion and discuss their activities one- 9 — ;;>.'. :'y :; on-one were representatives of cam- pus clubs which have an international Damon Evans Urges BCC focus, including the Student World As- Students to make full use of How The Death of Two Sons sembly and the Peace Club. if ;* The BCC chorus, led by Professor Academic oppprtunities Tom Cipullo, performed an exciting Has Changed My Life Continued on page 9 By Jessica Collazo Abner Louima dying and the docu- mentary was called The Death of Two When I first heard of the screening Sons. I was confused. More IEW coverage at BCC about Amadou Diallo's life, The presentation started with Pag< I immediately thought of the police opening remarks from Melissa Kirk, brutality with the Haitian immigrant Director of Student Life. She shared Is Global warming Facluty Art Show named Abner Louima, who was sexu- with the audience that she had been ally abused with a plunger. I was so a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West A Local Issue? excited also about meeting his mother. Africa, and that was where she learned "Were! I told everyone at work, even my fam- to speak Fulani. She then introduced come From" ily, that I was going to see a documen- the documentary. 9 Page 14-16 tary about Amadou Diallo who was When I saw the movie, my mis- Become Part of the killed and sexually abused by police understanding was clear. The Death American Dream with a plunger. However, not one of of Two Sons is about Amadou Diallo, Writers of the Month them corrected me; they just agreed. a man from Guinea whose life was As I sat front row at the screening tak- cut short in America by a controver- of Two Sons ing place in the Roscoe Brown Cen- sial situation that still exists today. I Global Hip-Hop aft'.*** ter with my tape recorder I was only was moved by the interpretation of thinking about how I never heard of Continued on page 9 and Social Activism THE COMMUNICATOR — DECEMBER 2006/JANUARY 2007 THE COMMUNICATOR DEDICATED TO INFORMATIVE EXCELLENCE What Is YOUR GPA? The Student Newspaper of Bronx Community College By Nussrat Said passion, interest, constant focus, and employing of the City University of New York full energy; only one percent is genius. Here are Grade point average is one of the most impor- examples of such hard-working people: Gali- Located at: tant ratings that a student will ever receive. Attend- leo of Italy who described the working of grav- West 181st Street & University Avenue ing any educational institution, from high school ity in the exact language of math, Isaac Newton Bronx, New York 10453-3102 to college and university, requires our best effort Colston Hall, room 605 of England who discovered the calculus and the Telephone: 718.289.5445 • Fax: 718.289.6324 to maintain a good academic standard. The GPA law of nature, and Marie Curie, a Polish-French E-mail: [email protected] measures the level of a student's achievement in physicist and chemist who pioneered radioactiv- school or university and is also a significant fac- ity research. Later, she was the only person who It is the policy of the City University of New York not tor when seeking employment. A potential em- achieved Nobel Prizes in two different fields of to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, national, ployer wants to know how seriously the applicant science (physics and chemistry). origin, sex, age or handicapping condition in it's took his or her school years and how well he or I once wanted to consult a Lasik specialist educational programs, activities, and employment she is able to apply that knowledge. Some of the policy, as required by law. Any person at 8CC who (eye surgeon). As there were many, I asked for believes he or she has been discriminated against best schools don't even consider transfer students the biographies of some before selecting one and should contact the BCC Affirmative Action Officer in who just meet minimum requirements and have making an appointment. I choose one, Dr. Jhansi Language Hall, Room 31. passing grades. Raju, MD, whose biography included the state- "What Is Your GPA?" was the title of an ar- ment that she had graduated with highest hon- Editorial Board ticle written by a BBC student and published ors. The minute I read this sentence on top of • Nussrat Said, Editor-in-Chief • Delores Johnson, Managing Editor in the November issue of The Communicator. the page, I translated the words 'with honors' to • Amparo Reyes, Secretary When I saw the title of the article, I thought that mean that she took seriously her academic years • Jessica Collazo, Treasurer there is someone with new ideas who might try and has in-depth knowledge of the field that she • Ruleen Garcia, IOC Representative to persuade and reason with BCC students that is a specialist in. I was fully convinced that she what they are doing is not enough and that they knows her field very well, even though her bi- Staff Writers: Contributing Writers: need to work day and night and increase their ography did not say anything about her being a • Bubacarr Bah • Duane Adams work and concentration six-fold. However, when member of many clubs and organizations in col- • Arnold Callwood • Nicole Couvertier • Jessica Collazo • Erica Fells I started reading the article, I was amazed and lege. I found that she had done 6,000 eye surger- • Ruleen Garcia • Roberto Quiroga greatly disappointed that the author thinks that ies and all were 100% successful. Imagine, if you • Deloras Johnson • Alexander Smith BCC students are doing more than enough, that go to an eye surgeon who has a background of • LaToya Morris • Tasha Vega they should reduce the level of their struggle and just passing grades and who performs surgery on • Busola Obayomi just meet the minimum requirements. I com- you; you might end up blind in both eyes. • Jennifer Opoku • Nussrat Said pletely disagree with this. Many educational institutions, non-profit or- • Dominique Winters The author says in his article, ".. .If school is ganizations, and companies provide scholarships all about GPA, life will be very boring to me" and to high-standard students who have proved that Faculty Advisor: Andrew Rowan "... school is dead to me if all I can care about is they are serious about learning, seek in-depth my GPA."The writer also stated that "...grade knowledge and who try to extract something new Any BCC student or staff member can submit ar- point average only makes you a 'statistic' but get- from it. They offer free money or books, or pay- ticles and photographs to The Communicator. Please send them to us at Colston Hall 605, ting a pass average makes you a 'standard'" and ment of college expenses to students who have or drop-off your submissions at Colston Hall 601.