Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

- William Butler Yeats

The Unfiltered Lens

www.TheUnfilteredLens.com

Serving The CCRI Student Body Since 2007

April 16, 2015

Volume 12
Issue 7

Info@theunfilteredlens.com

Performance based funding

How CCRI success stories are judged

Student Enrollment 2012

Full-time, First-time Degree seeking students

35
29

Full time
Part Time

% of
students

28

22.2

21

30.7 31.3
27.2 26.6
19.7

22

10.3

8.9

9.3

26
20.3

16.6
14

29.1

10.6

17.4

15.2
11.8 12.6 11.8

Graduated
Transferred
Continuing

CCRI Office of Institutional Research and

Planning
Edward Kdonian
Editor in Chief

There has been a
windfall of discussion over
the Performance Based
Funding initiative. The bill
which was recently voted
on this past Wednesday,
describes a plan to regulate
funding to state colleges by
measuring success rates.
The motion has
had faculty and students
confused and more than a
little wary, and for good reason. According to this act
of legislation, state funding
would be determined using
a rubric designed to evaluate whether a college is
completing its mission successfully and efficiently.
The real question
is how does one measure the
criteria of success? Does
success not depend on the
intention of each student
who attends a collegiate institution? One person may
only want to take a few
classes for fun, another may
seek to begin an education

n
P3
P4
P6
P7
P9
P11

before transferring elsewhere, yet another student

may be on a path towards a
degree.
If graduation is not
the intention of the student,
than it is not excusable to
claim the college failed by
not seeing that student to
graduation.
How can any one
person decide on whether
a college is successful in
their mission, when its mission differs with every student? The Lens was able to
sit down with the Commissioner of Higher Education,
Jim Purcell, to gain insight
into these issues.
Commissioner Purcell
started out by stating that
the new bill is ...well written, and not as draconian
as some of the performance
based funding bills in other
states
He told us that
unlike other such initiatives,
Rhode Islands will include
provisions that allow faculty
at each campus affected to
have input as to the crite-

This
Issue

Faulty Faculty Association

Banking with China
E-cig epidemic
Sexual Assault Awareness
Letter to the Editor
Furious 7 review

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

CCRI Office of Institutional Research and Planning

ria that determines success.

However, he was not particularly forthcoming with just
how much said input would
influence the end decision.
Especially when
one considers that the state
will be bringing in an expert on performance based
funding matters. Sounds
like the beginning of a bad
80s movie, doesnt it?
He mentioned that
while the motion does not
currently dictate the measures of success, it does contain some areas of focus.
The first mentioned was
second and third year retention rates.
Purcell was not
specific on how retention
of knowledge would be
judged. However, one can
just picture standardized
tests on the first day of a
new semester to judge how
well you remember the last.
The second bit of
criteria the current bill specifies is geared towards ...
increase in degrees that are
workforce related This

Pride: part 1
page 10
@ccriunfiltered
/unfilteredlens

is a clear delineation to the

previously disputed workforce development plan that
has been pushed for by Governor Gina Raimondo.
Purcell informed us
that The bill actually specifies particular measures for
each institution. On one
hand, this is good news for
us here at CCRI. It means
that our criteria for success will be not be affected
by those placed on RIC or
URI.
This may seem like
common sense since we are
a two year institution unlike
their four years. Yet, common sense rarely plays into
the bureaucratic process.
Most importantly
among the bills measures
is a directive to measure the
amount of students who
graduate in a set period of
time. This directive is especially concerning for those
attending CCRI.
The average amount
of time students attend
CCRI for is between four
and five years. This is partly due to the fact that more
than half of CCRI students
are enrolled only part time.
Compounding this is
the large numbers of prospecting nursing students,
who sometimes have to wait
years to be accepted into a
program. This makes the
idea of judging students on
how quickly they complete
their chosen path more than
a bit illogical.

The only way to

truly judge the success of a
college in helping students
to achieve their goals is to
ask the students how they
feel. However, the current
bill contains no explicit directive of how to gain this
information.
When asked about this
Commissioner Purcell stated that Theres two ways
to have interaction with
students, one will be with
open dialogue.
The
second method seemed to
be reading literature about
students.
While it is not completely clear what Purcell
meant when he said ...the
other thing to determine
is if there actually are outcomes for those students
and the literature can sort
of help you to identify what
happens to them, it is hard
to imagine that it will lead
to actually inquiring of students their opinions.
While Commissioner
Purcell seems hopeful that
this bill is not only a good
idea, but may actually help
to increase the level of funding here at CCRI, we here
at The Unfiltered Lens cant
help but to be skeptical.
After all, even communism sounds great on
paper, but it doesnt really
work in practice. Perhaps
we are witnessing yet another instance of bureaucratic
solution to what was never a
problem.

The Unfiltered Lens

Campus News

Salve Regina University

Center for Adult Education in Warwick

Continuing Education
Transfer up to 84 credits
Credit for life or military experience
Affordable tuition ($290 per credit) and
Financial Aid available for those who qualify
Evening, hybrid and accelerated courses

Bachelors Degree Programs

B.S. Accounting
B.A. Administration of Justice
B.S. Business Administration
B.S. Health Care Administration
and Management
B.A. Leadership Studies
RN to B.S.N. in Nursing

Ask about our transfer credit

agreement with CCRI.
Contact us for your
personalized degree plan!
(401) 341-2871
continuing_ed@salve.edu

Graduate Studies and

Continuing Education
Learn. Live. Make a difference.
144 Metro Center Blvd., Warwick, RI 02886
www.salve.edu/ce

Campus News

Lincoln, the Constitution and the Civil War

Danny Cordova
Staff Writer
The
Community
College of Rhode Island
is honoring the 150th anniversary of the American
Civil War by showcasing the
traveling exhibition: Lincoln, the Constitution and
the Civil War, organized by
the National Constitution
Center and the American
Library Association Public
Programs Office.

The American Civil
War was a result of decades
of constitutional issues and
tensions involving secession, civil liberties, and the
emancipation of millions of
slaves.

The exhibit opened
up with a presentation of the
major underlying themes
detailed in the presentation by Associate professors
Suzanne McCormack and
Jack Every. McCormack
discussed her love of teaching the Civil War and the
issues that were brought to
light.

McCormack added
that historians ask philosophical and ethical questions about sovereignty,
about civil liberties, and
about the origins of racism
in the United States, and
the peculiar institution of
slavery.

Professor Every took
the stage and discussed the
evolution of the war. When
the war started, Lincoln
declared that it was to be

Marcus DeFaria/Lens
fought for the preservation
of the union, not to bring
an end to slavery. However,
as the conflict was appearing to be much longer and
bloody than both the Union
and Confederacy anticipated, the emancipation of
slaves became a Union war
effort.

This prompted Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation to
abolish slavery in Confed-

erate states to weaken the

Confederacys will to wage
war. The Proclamation
converted what have been a
limited war to a much more
radicalized endeavor to preserve the union, but to end
slavery as well, Professor
Every added.

CCRI is hosting
related events through the
month of April. CCRI Art
Department Professor Tom
Morrissey will give a gallery
night presentation about
Civil War photography at
6:30 p.m. on April 22 in
Room 4080. Renowned
Civil War historian and
Brown University Professor Michael Vorenberg,
who served as an academic consultant for the movie
"Lincoln," will speak about
the ratification of the 13th
Amendment at 6:30 p.m. on
April 29 in the Bobby Hackett Theater. These events
are free and open to the
public. If you have not yet
checked out the exhibition,
it is located in the Lower
Commons.

Flip-flop faculty president

Edward Kdonian
Editor in Chief

The overall mission of

The Unfiltered Lens is
to inform and improve the
quality of student life at
the Community College of
Rhode Island. We strive to
accomplish this standard
by reporting and writing
the truth in an ethical and
responsible fashion that enlightens the entire college
community, while providing
information in an unvarnished manner that seeks
thoughtful responses, dialogue and, of course, action. We fully understand
serving students is our clear
objective and recognize the
impact and, more importantly, the importance of
this endeavor. We realize we
do not make news but cover events that stimulate our
community, improve college
life and strengthen our democracy.

The Unfiltered Lens

The initiative to instate performance based

funding (PBF) here at CCRI
has caused no small amount
of controversy. The turmoil
has been especially evident
in the faculty community,
and up until recently, the
opinion of the Faculty Association reflected this.
Shawn Parker, president of the CCRI Faculty
Association, has recently
changed his tune regarding
the proposition. If asked a
week ago, Parkers opinion
would have been one of antipathy. As is his obligation,
his words would have reflected those of his constituents.
As president of the
Faculty Association, Parker
began sending out one email
after another. Each message
detailed not only new developments in the bill, but the
official opinion of the faculty, what they could do to
fight the initiative, and up
to date information on what
he was doing as president to
oppose it.
The overall tone of his

emails is clearly disparaging

towards the proposed legislation. Parker can even be
quoted referring to PBF as a
scheme. If there was any
doubt that Parker and the
rest of the faculty opposed
the idea, it was squashed
with the posting of Parkers
video letter to YouTube.
Sean Parkers well
thought out and well spoken
video clearly stated the faculties opposition. Overall,
Parker seemed to be a well
chosen leader and mouthpiece to the faculty.
That is until the words
coming from his mouth
stopped reflecting those the
faculty wished to speak. As
The Lens has covered this
complex issue we have been
lucky enough to speak to
many faculty members.
While their reasons
have differed, every member of the faculty we have
spoken with has agreed,
PBF is a bad idea. How is
it then that Parker seems to
have accepted the bill?
On April 14, just
twenty-four hours before
the bill was voted on by
the house, Parker sent an
email to his colleagues on

the schools faculty that they

were no longer standing in
the way of performance
based funding.
The email discusses recent changes to the wording
of the PBF bill and informs
the faculty that the Faculty
Association now supports
the bill. Finishing the email
is a recommendation that
faculty Live to fight another day, as condescending
as that seems.
Parkers message
shows not only a lack of
backbone, but a willingness
to abandon ones principles
because the going has gotten hard. Is this the message the faculty would like
their president to put forth?
Either way, the bill,
which has been held up in
the House for further study
is still out there. As students,
administration and faculty
take a moment to regroup it
becomes even more important to find a unified voice to
speak with. Just as important is making sure that those
who we ask to speak for us,
do so honestly and with integrity.

EDITORIAL
STAFF
Edward Kdonian
Editor-in-Chief
Courtney Germain
Managing Editor
Chris Cameron
Copy Editor
Rob Oatley
National and World
Jessamy LeBeau
Health and Science
Lauren DelBrocco
Op-ed
Robert Gagnon
Arts and Entertainment

Staff Writers
Danny Cordova
Marcus DeFaria
Jason Klas
Ari Samayoa
David Schmidt

Staff Artist
Lanyka Lincoln

Contributing Writers
Brandi Boyd
Brendan Fernandez
Russel Hanley
Adam McConnell
Brian McCrillis
Ashley Rebelo
Caitlin Rush
Steve Forleo
Faculty Advisor

Official Member
Journalism Association of
Community Colleges
Since 2010

Official Member
College Media Association
Since 2011

Official Member
Student Press Law Center
Since 2010

The Unfiltered Lens

Medical mania

David Schmidt
Staff Writer

On March 31 2015,
the Supreme Court announced a ruling that purportedly, states which private Medicaid providers
cannot sue to force states to
raise reimbursement rates
in the face of rising medical
costs.

The ruling was the
usual standard ideologically
lined decision of 5-4. The
decision provided a decisive blow to end the constant clamor from health
care providers and doctors
complaining over the low
rates in state Medicaid reimbursement rates.

Each side has been
burdened by this process,
as they are losing valuable
funds that they would usually get through patient bills.

Some background
on this case includes an occurrence at the Idaho Medical Center in 2009.

They treated approximately 2,600 patients
for mental illness, and soon

went to court to argue that

its states Medicaid reimbursement rates were set at
2006 levels as opposed to
appropriate updated rates
for 2009.

Likewise, the appellate court agreed and raised
the rates to more modern
figures. However, the U.S.
Supreme Court reversed
this decision on the grounds
that, Private Medicaid providers have no right to sue
under the Medicaid law.
Furthermore,
the
Supreme Court added that
the only reasonable way to
fix the issue is for Medicaid providers ask that the
Department of Health and
Human Services withhold
funds from the state.

Justice Antonin Scalia stated that under the majority opinion: While Congress created the Medicaid
program, it did not give the
provider any legal right to
bring about a suit like the
one here.
However,
Scalia
was insistent that the Medicaid plan be dependable

with effectiveness, economy,

and quality of care. Joining
Scalia in this opinion were
Supreme Court Justices;
Roberts, Thomas, Alito,
and Breyer. While the dissent was led by Justice Sonia
Sotomayor, she felt that the
decision would have a huge
impact.

She can be quoted
stating that, Any state that
set reimbursement rates so
low that providers were unwilling to furnish a covered
service, could have been led
to providing sufficient funds
to meet the federal standards.
However,
further
into her dissent Sotomayor
stated that, It must suffice
that a federal agency... has
the authority to address
such violations through the
drastic and often counterproductive measure of withholding the funds for such
services. Joining Justice Sotomayor in this dissent were
Justices; Anthony Kennedy,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and
Elena Kagan.

Earn Your Degree in

One of These Exciting Programs
BACHELORS DEGREE PROGRAMS

Architectural Building Engineering

Automotive Service Management
Business Management
Construction Management
Criminal Justice
Cyber Security
Digital Media Production
Electrical Engineering Technology
Game Development & Simulation Programming
Graphics Multimedia and Web Design
Interior Design
Health Care Management
Mechanical Engineering Technology
Network Engineering Technology
Software Engineering Technology
Video Game Design Technology

MASTERS DEGREE PROGRAMS

Information Technology
Occupational Therapy
Construction Management

ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAM

RN to BSN

800.736.7744

www.NEIT.edu

401.467.7744

One New England Tech Boulevard, East Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818

National News

Banking on
the Chinese

David Schmidt
Staff Writer

Numerous
countries, perhaps interested in
the exclusion of the United States and Japan, have
joined an international
bank recently established by
the Chinese.

This new international fiscal institution is
called the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, and
was created for the purpose
of financing the need to improve infrastructure in Asia
(approximately eight trillion
dollars for upgrades has
been estimated).

The United States
did not sign the pact, as
they are concerned with the
openness, authority, and social securities displayed by
the institution. In addition,
the United States views
the institution as competition to the well-established
World Bank, a United Nations-backed financial organization.

Japan has similar

worries concerning the investment bank, and is the

only Asian ally that followed
the United States in questioning the partnership.

The United States
has requested that the bank
create a partnership with
the World Bank. The president of the World Bank is
currently in deep discussions with the new financial
institution and its leaders.

However, like all
monumental negotiations,
there has been no report of
confirmation on the possible partnership. Moreover,
any agreement of converging with the newly created
bank would need legislative
approval.

In addition, there is a
feeling of resentment within
the United States Congress
with regard to China, one
of Americas top competitors. Only time will tell if
the two can strike gold
and partner up, otherwise,
the World Bank could experience competition for the
first time since its inception.

World News

5
Devastation at Kenyan university
The Unfiltered Lens

Marcus DeFaria
Staff Writer

On Thursday, April
2, 2015, four armed attackers entered Garissa University and began firing upon
security guards and students. The aggressors were
later identified as militants
from the renowned terrorist group Al-Shabab. There
were at least 147 people
killed.

While more than
500 students were able to
escape, 79 were injured
during the assault.

This is considered
the deadliest attack committed by Al-Shabab to date.
Several hours had passed
before commandos trained
to deal with situations such
as these had arrived.

There is little doubt
that this sizable delay led to
the death toll being as high
as it was; this delay also raises questions of the countrys
ability to deal with future
threats.

More than 250 students later demonstrated
in the capital, Nairobi, because of the delay that resulted in the deaths of many
of their friends and family
members. We are not safe
Kenyan students chanted
on the Tuesday following
the attack.

The Islamic militants have claimed that the
attack on the university was
in response to the Kenyan
troops fighting rebels in So-

CNN
malia.

Many Kenyan citizens feel helpless and in
constant danger of being
killed in another brutal assault. The unimpressive
performance of the police
and military have been attributed to low morale due
to wages and questionable
decisions by authorities.
The
government
later commented that the
police departments paramilitary Reece tactical unit
was put on hold because
of claims from the military
that they could handle the
situation.

It was only after several hours had passed and
the military had suffered
casualties that the unit was
dispatched to their location.

The Reece unit ar-

rived nearly twelve hours after the attack on the university had begun. This speaker
was anonymous because he
was not authorized to speak
to the press at that time.

Kenya has promised
severe retaliation against AlShabab and has announced
that it will perform air
strikes on their camps in Somalia. The lack of coordination and preparation was
also seen during the attack
on Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September of 2013,
which led to the deaths of
67 people and a friendly-fire
incident which killed a Reece officer.

Many are criticizing
the government for its lack
of preparation measures in
case of an extremist attack.
These arguments often cite

the 2013 attack on Westgate Mall and this recent

attack as an example of the
government failing to learn
from its mistakes.

CNN

The Unfiltered Lens

Health

Until all of the pieces fit

Courtney Germain
Managing Editor

Autism is a life-long,
mysterious and complex developmental disorder affecting millions of individuals
world-wide. T

he presentation of
symptoms was first recognized in 1908 by Eugen
Bleuler, a psychiatrist treating schizophrenic patients,
and was described as a
morbid
self-admiration
and withdrawal into self
(an observation also evidenced in its etymological
roots, as autos is a Greek
suffix referring to self ).

Since these initial
findings, several addition
features of the disorder have
been acknowledged. Considered a spectrum disorder, autism encompasses
a wide range of symptoms
that present differently in

each of its affected, along

with varying levels of abilities and impairment, which
range from the mild and
moderate to the severe and
profound.

Recognized facets
of this disorder include the
classic presentation of
Autistic Disorder, Aspergers Syndrome (typically
present with many autistic
characteristics, yet possess
above average intelligence
and language development),
Pervasive Developmental
Disorder (Not Otherwise
Specified, also referred to
as atypical autism), Retts
Syndrome, and the rare
Childhood Disintegrative
Disorder (both aforementioned disorders cause a
dissipation of acquired language and motor development).

While each possesses slightly different criteria,
common denominators of

these various syndromes

include significant and often debilitating deficits in
social interactions and language development, uneven
presentation of intellectual
functioning, a strong aversion to changes in their environment, markedly specific
preoccupation with certain
interests and activities and
sensitivities to stimuli.

Most of these symptoms become apparent in
early childhood, typically
between eighteen and thirty-six months. An estimated
25% of those affected with
ASD are non-verbal, but
are often capable of communicating through alternate means.
With the exception
of Retts Syndrome, autism
predominately affects males
at a rate of five times that of
their female counterparts.
According to startling new
data reported by the CDC,

Smoke free cigarettes

Ashley Rebelo
Contributing Writer

The first time I saw one of
my friends unwrapping the
e-cigarette she had just got
in the mail, I asked what
prompted her to make this
purchase. She didnt smoke
traditional cigarettes or
any other type of drug, so
what she did peaked my
curiosity. She simply told
me Because its cool and
I heard the tastes are awesome. I cant wait to try vanilla and chocolate!

My friend is not the
only one thinking that way.
According to The New York
Times, use of e-cigarette
device among teenagers has
tripled from 2013 to 2014,
to the point of exceeding
the usage of cigarettes. As
a matter of fact, this use
dropped 25% from 2013 to
2014.

Some teenagers see
it as something exciting and
new. Although e-cigarettes
dont contain any tar, they
still contain known carcinogens and toxic chemicals like diethylene glycol,
a chemical ingredient also
found in antifreeze.

Furthermore, a re-

cent study published in the

journal, Drug and Alcohol
Dependence, found that
other habits are associated
with this trend.

Dr. Martin Mahoney, a co-author of the
study and professor of oncology in the departments
of medicine and health behavior at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and a professor
in the department of community health and health
behavior at the University
at Buffalo, stated many college students use e-cigarettes
as part of a mix of health
risk behaviors, including alcohol and marijuana.
Furthermore,
because it is not marketed as
tobacco or for therapeutic
use, it is currently not regulated by the FDA, which
means there are no standards for the safety or purity
of the liquids used in e-cigarettes.

Long-term research
has yet to be done in order
to study the effects on this
new trend. However, anti-tobacco advocates see this
new trend as beneficial. In
the United States, 70% of
e-cigarette smokers do this
to help them quit smoking.
In fact, 31% of people who

tried the e-cigarettes have

quit smoking within six
months.

Even though they
are not regulated by the
FDA, e-cigarettes are a safe
and effective way to quit,
or avoiding picking up the
habit of smoking cigarettes,
and are becoming a more
socially acceptable vice in
the United States.

autism is estimated to affect one child in every sixty-eighth birth (a ten-fold

increase in the last forty
years), a statistic that breaks
all socioeconomic and ethnic boundaries.

The mysterious nature and ever-increasing incidence of ASD remains a
near-constant source of contention, as exact causation
remains undefined. While
research conducted over the
last five years has found that
there are a number of genetic mutations that present
in many autistic individuals,
it is understood that there is
likely a myriad of variables
that combine to constitute
the presentation of autism,
including additional genetic
and environmental factors.

While autism is
currently considered incurable, a multitude of
therapy and behavioral interventions are available to

help treat the symptoms.

The most common of these
therapeutic practices include Applied Behavioral Analysis and Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy, both
of which have been found
to provide substantial improvement.
With proper support, many individuals with
autism grow to lead fulfilled,
satisfied lives. It is important
for conventional counterparts to provide these individuals with acceptance and
advocacy, as we are unable
to revoke a diagnosis of autism, but we can change our
perceptions and the world
in which they live! Please
join The Autism Project of
RI at 9a.m., Sunday, April
26 for the thirteenth annual
Imagine Walk at Goddard
Park (East Greenwich)!

Tumor Troubles
Marcus DeFaria
Staff Writer

Glioblastoma Multiformes, also known as
GBMs, are deadly and
incurable brain tumors.
There are nearly 16,000
new cases of Glioblastoma
Multiformes reported in the
United States each year.

Modern chemotherapy drugs can assist in halting the reproduction GBM
cells by damaging DNA, but
have been unable to stop
them altogether. Researchers at Northwestern University recently discovered a
method of fighting this type
of tumor.

These researchers
observed that a molecule
called miR-182 suppressed
these tumors and reduced
the expression of the oncogenes that cause the progression of cancer. It was
also observed that human
patients who showed higher
levels of miR-182 had higher survival rates when compared to patients who had
lower levels of miR-182.

This research has
been published in the
Genes and Development
journal; which detailed their
use of the nanostructure

Spherical Nucleic Acids

(SNAs) to transport the molecules through the bloodbrain barrier and target the
oncogenes.

SNAs are comprised
of DNA and RNA that are
located around a nanoparticle center; these SNAs
show the potential to silence
the genes that often lead to
the progression of cancer
in an individual. This use
of SNAs, a technique that
prevents toxicity and/or activation of the immune system, was invented by Northwestern medicine professor
Chad Mirkin.
Alexander
Stegh,
an assistant neurology and
medicine professor at the
Northwestern
Feinberg
School of Medicine says
that Our approach to
gene silencing has not been
demonstrated before in such
a powerful way for the treatment of brain cancers.
He also adds that These
particles, microRNA-based
SNAs, could also potentially
be used for gene silencing in
other cancers and diseases
of genetic origin.

Sexual Health

The Unfiltered Lens

Sexual assault awareness

have a problem coming forward.

We, not as a school,
but we as a people, have an

With April being issue with talking about priSexual Assault and Do- vate affairs. A lot of times
mestic Violence Awareness people dont get taken serimonth, Katrice Anderson, ously when they talk about
the Knight Campus StuSome
dent Body President, sat
down with the Unfiltered universities are
Lens to discuss the issue of
not held
sexual assault within the
responsible for
CCRI community.

Due in large to the
sexual assaults
nature of community college, there is no way around which occur off
the fact that CCRI is isolatcampus.
ed from the typical college
experience. In particular, private things...people dont
the party atmosphere satu- get taken seriously when
rated with parental freedom they talk about private
typically found on college things, especially when it
campuses.
comes to issues like rape...

In regards to sexual
Sexual assaults that
assault on campus, Ander- are happening on college
son stated, I believe that it campuses across the nation
happens, but I wouldnt say often either go unreported,
that its a problemyet. or are swept under the rug
She added that the high by colleges and universities.
possibility of students who Between 2012-2013, Rhode
may have been assaulted Island colleges reported an
having a problem coming overall 18 percent more reforward., Always [people ported sexual assaults on
Brandi Boyd
Contributing Writer

campus, according to the

Providence Journal.

Even this number
isnt completely accurate,
though. Some universities
are not held responsible for
sexual assaults which occur
off campus. This leads to

the argument that the issue

isnt just a university one,
but perhaps a cultural one.

How can an entire culture. agree that
something like that is okay
to do? President Anderson
pondered. It may be an

unspoken culture..Cause
if no one ever tells you this
isnt how the real world
works, no one ever stops you
and goes hey, things arent
that simple, arent that black
and white.who is going to
tell you that it is wrong.

Ready for Your

Next Step?

The School of Continuing Studies at RWU

will help you get where youd like to be.
Offering more than a dozen degree programs as well as undergraduate and
post-baccalaureate certificate options, the School of Continuing Studies
offers you:

Credit for your military training, professional and life experience

Flexible courses in online, in-class and hybrid formats
Personalized academic and professional advising
Transfer your completed CCRI courses (C or better) to earn an
associates or bachelors degree at RWU!

Learn more at
scs.rwu.edu

Take advantage of our low tuition rates

ONLY $966 for a 3 CREDIT

CLASSROOM COURSE!
Visit our Providence campus at one of our
open houses the second Wednesday of each month.
Register online at http://scs.rwu.edu/openhouse

150 Washington Street Providence, RI 02903

(401) 254-3530

Science

The Unfiltered Lens

The big fossil known as Little Foot

Marcus DeFaria
Staff Writer

A paper published
Wednesday in the journal
Nature reveals that a South
African skeleton has been
discovered; this skeleton,
formerly known as fossil StW 573, is now being
called Little Foot.

This find is important because it has been revealed that Little Foot is as
old as the famous Lucy
skeleton from East Africa.

This was found out
using a relatively new fossil
dating technique, called isochron burial dating, which is
believed to improve dating
accuracy for very old samples. The age of this skeleton suggests that South Africa played an important role
in early human evolution.

This fossil was discovered by paleoanthropologist, Ron Clarke, from
the University of Witwatersrand. Once considered
to be vital to the understanding of early human
evolution, South Africa has

Jason Heaton/National Geographic

received far less attention in
the past few decades.

This fossil places South Africa back into
prominence after its attention was redirected to East
Africa in the 1960s.

People have said

South Africa has good fossils, but we don't know how

old they are, Ron Clarke
says Now were beginning
to understand their age.
That changes things dramatically.

Using the isochron

burial dating technique,

they were able to estimate
the ages of the specimen
based on when it was last
on the surface. Nine out of
eleven samples from sediments surrounding the skeleton gave an age of 3.67
million years.

Many researchers,
however, doubt that the fossil is actually as old as the
sediments that surround it.
Although others insist that
it is unlikely that the fossil
appeared at a later date, the
age of Little Foot remains
uncertain.

The Lucy skeleton
had only 40 percent of its
bones intact and was also
missing its head, the Little
Foot skeleton has more than
90 percent of its bones intact.

The completeness
of Little Foot in comparison
to Lucy and its comparable
age make it a far more useful sample for research into
representatives of early human evolution.

Little Foot was found
in caves known as Sterkfon-

tein, which are near Johannesburg; the excavation process had taken Clarke nearly
15 years.

While the excavation is still ongoing, it is now
only a matter of time before
this mysterious skeleton can
be observed as a whole.

Like other fossils
that have been found at
Sterkfontein prior to this
one, Little Foot is a progenitor to humans known as an
australopithecine.

The name of Little Foots species remains a
mystery, but many researchers believe that it is likely
a member of the species
called Australopithecus africanus, a species that has
been known to have existed in South Africa for some
time.

As studies in this
skeleton continue, we will
undoubtedly learn more
about the history of our
species and how the human
race came to be what it is today.

New Horizons plots pictures of Pluto

Probe set to arrive at Pluto in just a few short weeks

Ari Samayoa
Staff Writer
It is common elements
within our society to vision
life on Mars, a man on the
moon, and women from Venus; yet, why is it not common for the general public
to question Pluto?

It seems that small,
humble Pluto is about to get
a wake up call as NASAs
New Horizons Spacecraft
will pass by the dwarf planet on July 14 of this year.

There are many reasons why everyone should be
excited about this. One of
these reasons is the amount
of information that Pluto
can teach science about the
far reaches of the solar system.

Our solar system
is separated into three segments; these zones are
known as the inner zone
with the rocky planets, the
gas planets, and the Kuiper
Belt.

In truth, the mission
of the New Horizons is to
explore the Kuiper Belt and
discover the different elements that it holds in store
for science to study. The
main objects in the Kuiper
Belt are Pluto and its largest
moon, Charon.

Pluto and Charon
are very important to the
New Horizons mission due
to the scientific implications
surrounding their origins.

What makes ice
dwarfs like Pluto and Charon important are the content they are made of. What
NASA seeks to gather more
information on the material
makeup of Pluto, because it
is theorized that ice dwarfs
are the leftovers of the formation of our planetary system.

In addition to this,
New Horizons will be the
first to study a binary planet, which is a pair of bodies that have a gravitational
point located in the middle
of the planet; this happens

to be Pluto and Charon.

This awesome visit
to Pluto is planned to occur
on July 14th of this year.
After this visit, the plan for

New Horizons is to continue its journey in the Kuiper

Belt to discovery new territory and scientific information that may prove to be

quite valuable. With this in

store for science, who knows
what could be found!

New Horizonz/Nasa

Op-Ed

Letter to the
Editor

Hello my name is
Colby Ortega. I am currently a student at the CCRI
Warwick campus and I play
for the baseball team. I love
the fact y'all write a newspaper for the school.

I love being able to
pick up the paper and read
whats going on around the
school and Rhode Island
cause I ain't from up North.
However, I do not particularly like all the cursing and
fowl language that is said in
the columns y'all post.

I just read the
March 26, 2015 edition and
was appalled when I came
across the F word, S word,
A word and especially the B
word.

I understand this is
college and y'all are expressing yourselves but should
not be a I find language like
that not only disrespectful,
but also unprofessional.

Also, I understand
I'm up North and its more

The Unfiltered Lens

liberal up here but I do not

find it enlightening or a
good way to start off my day
reading about sexual conversations such as the ones
in the issue before because
that is stuff to talk about in
privacy and not something
everyone wants to read.

Lastly, I do not particularly find it enjoyable
to read in a lot of issues
the homosexual stories and
comments. Just as before
with the sexual comments, I
believe that is something to
discuss in private, not with
everyone at CCRI.

Personally it makes
me very uncomfortable
reading about stuff like that
because I do not believe its
news, just an issue in which
people need to deal with
themselves.

Other than those 3
issues I really enjoy reading
all of the stories y'all put together and the news going
around

More than a place to sleep

Brendan Fernandez
Contributing Writer

As a graduate of this
school, Id like to pass my
advice on for those who are
also struggling. School isnt
easy, and simply because
you are aiming to transfer
or attain your associates degree does not mean your life
will be easy doing it. Expect
hardships, expect a challenge!

I felt lost in a sea of
people; graduating was a
more complex process than
I imagined it to be.

I propose overnight
stay dorms, where students
can sleep on campus and
share a bit of their personal
lives with others. I believe
it will help selected students
make a success out of themselves while being here.

This is something
I want to see. Staying on
campus, even for a night or
two a week will help build
a solid connection with the
study program here, add extra choices in daily life, provide a relaxed comfort zone,
and help build relationships
that people seemed to ne-

glect while I was a student

here. I dont understand
the indirect form of hostility
here, but it has to stop.

Facebook may be
eating up students time as
well as classes or personal
life. Despite the excuse, the
negativity needs to stop. Despite anyones predicament,
the college is full of individuals who are not unified under common grounds.

The ability to see
yourself succeed in a new
environment can be hard to
tackle at a community college. Especially if you are
not succeeding the way you
planned it in your current
environment.

There is no need to
moves hundreds of miles
from ones home to experience campus life in dormitories at a community college
elsewhere. Pros and cons of
provided dormitories range
drastically too.

Some pros proved
that it is easier to partake in
study sessions at the school,
and put in extra time for
labs/homework/etc. Another pro goes as listed you
will never likely be lonely.

Thus fulfilling the college

experience by giving people
the chance to develop relationships on campus.

The homework still
gets done, and everyone still
makes it to class on time so
this is a good opportunity
to give the college better
reviews because the pass/
fail ratio can drastically
improve. Some listed cons
were roommate issues, lack
of privacy, and mandatory
moveouts.

Some may argue the
cost of dormitories will take
away from the aspect of
putting top of the line technology into the classrooms.
However this contradicts
the value of assuming technology will help be the better teacher vs students helping eachother out being the
better teacher. More and
more dormitories are being
built into these community
colleges to cater the needs
of the students going to
school.

We want our students to know what its like
to succeed, not fail.

Take your CCRI

Software/Networking
Engineering degree
to the next level.
CCRI and Johnson & Wales University new
articulation agreement allows you to take your
Software or Networking Associates from CCRI
and transfer into JWU as a junior in our
bachelors degree track of the same program.
Complete the free online application at
admissions.jwu.edu/apply
and mail your college transcripts to us.
For additional questions on transfer credit
or scholarships please contact Justin Mercier,
transfer counselor.

BUSINESS HOSPITALITY ARTS AND SCIENCES

CULINARY ARTS NUTRITION ENGINEERING AND DESIGN
Johnson & Wales University admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin, among other categories.

For more information contact

Justin Mercier
Transfer Representative
401-598-2348
jmercier@jwu.edu

10
Brian McCrillis
Contributing Writer

With a grin still
spread wide across her face,
Stephanie clumsily fumbled
with her keys trying to open
the door to her apartment.
She giggled at her own uncoordinated drunkenness
and finally managed to
open the door.

She was cold and
wet from the rain, and tossed
her jacket on the floor by
the door. Walking into her
apartment she dropped her
black designer purse to the
ground and reaching down
she removed one high heel
at a time while still hopping
down the hallway towards
her living room. With her
high heels in hand she then
resumed her walk as if she
was still wearing them, re-

Arts

The Unfiltered Lens

Pride: part one

fraining from letting the
heels of her bare feet touch
the ground. The thoughts
of tonight fresh in her mind
now, but will no doubt be
hazy later.

Stephanie promptly
slips her black sequin dress
over her head and flops
ungracefully onto her sofa.
Opening her laptop she
logs onto her Facebook and
then decides overwhelmingly to make herself another
drink.

Walking to the
kitchen she thinks back on
the night, one of dancing,
drinks and inebriated men
hitting on her. It seemed
that each new guy is the
top lawyer at his firm, the
newest doctor who saves
children, the CEO of a tech
startup, or the vice president
of who-gives-a-damn.

How many lawyers, CEOs, and doctors
could possibly be in New
York? she asked herself,
immediately shaking her
head as she realized how silly it sounded. It was after all
New York.

But thinking back
on the night, she realized
each guy had the same lines,
that she had beautiful blue
eyes, and that she looked
fantastic in her dress.

But after all the fun
of tonight, she had shared
a cab with her friends to
her apartment and walked
up the three flights of stairs
alone, using the railing more
than usual.

It was a damp, cold
Saturday night, the freezing
rain coming down and pelting the roof. It was one of
those Saturdays where peo-

ple stay in at night.

Some relish nights
like this, they find solitude
and comfort in staying inside their homes curled up
watching movies or catching up on television shows
that they fell behind on.

To some, this alone
time provides essential time
for self-reflection, and planning of goals, but to others
similar to Stephanie, the
idleness is a sobering revelation that they are alone.

She forced herself
out tonight, forced herself
to get drunk and forced herself to have a good time,
but there is always that
something in the back of
her head.

Like she has made
a mistake in her past that
at most times seems irreversible and permanent.

Equal Fights
Scars much deeper
By: Dahiana Hernandez,
By: Tammy Costa, Karina Santos,
Nadja Montanez, and Sean Murphy and Joel Dewey
Order in the court, Lawyers arguing
Whats a symbol of justice casting fear?
Man in uniform is not listening
One voice at a time and yet no one hears
How many unjust holler equal rights
All good men see equality as truth
Such plenty people go through sleepless nights
America, our future serves as proof
Justice fights for food and hope and for health
Maybe if we could stop the assuming
Fight for our people, distribute the wealth
Stop ourselves from preventing out blooming
We should fight the battles that dont need guns
Restore the way that this country was run

Upheaval on the streets of Ferguson

By: Yncarlys Castro, Alicia Johnson,
and Zachary Barbie

Stripped away from my determination

My triumph was a source of my own pride
Whipped into hate and abomination
Everything in my world has slowly died
On that fateful day my soul was taken
I roam the world a lucid entity
Heart and Mind I am forever shaken
Who was he to take my identity?
If only he knew what motivated
True beauty is non-exterial
Souls to kill spirits, flesh and death mated
In a world ruled by thing material
As a stronger woman I will stand tall
All my hopes fearless, I now stand for all

Oh yeah, theres still time left to save us all

For colored and uncolored to stand tall

To be continued...

The Unlawful Force

By: Carl Sjogren, Nick Mann,
and Anthony Gasbarro
Police around the world use lethal force
Claiming their life could be in danger
They think they are more important, of course
But we take the brunt of their anger
Claiming innocence until theres a source
One second were cool, the next a stranger
Countless bodies falling to the ground
So many young lives stolen far too quick
The men in blue unite in that awful sound
They guard the scenes tightly like a KG pick
If the cops did their job instead of cause fear
To serve and protect is what theyre for
If they did more of, our young would be here
But to hurt and object is what we see more

Joker in a Glass
By: Macy Bucci and
Michael Christian

Back Turned, Dont Shoot

By: Mary Cruzan, Elizabeth Greber,
I heard him stumble in late that night
and Mitchell Brown

Corrupt cop takes aim and fires his gun

Pow Pow Pow the black kid slams the pavement They Scream, shout with authority freeze
I think the officer did this for fun
Ink black pistol, shimmering in the light
Its worse than the days of enslavement
They say they serve, to protect, to seize
All there is, is pain, is loss, is fright
And our elders are stuck in their old ways
The protestors tell us to be afraid
Obeying the law by giving up life
Like the days Ferguson was set ablaze
Her baby, the egg she held in her womb
Sent a strong craze for a change to be made
Her blood suddenly gone, ripped from her sight
But theres still time to turn this all around
Teach children to see more than black and white
While we kick, scream, and shout to make a sound
And show the young generation whats right

Unlike a small grass stain

she never quite got out, the
smooth naked finger on her
left hand is not so discreet,
but announces itself to her
heart and mind like the hundred billboards spanning
the open desert highway
counting down the miles to
the last gas station.

That reminder that
her youth is limited, and her
actions, or lack thereof; are
much more permanent than
her job, car, house, or even
her own body. A reminder
that she is alone.

As nature and her
own heart would have it,
love can make or break
you, Happiness and loneliness share a line that has no
grayness but only absolutes.

Her screams, the agony, pierces the tomb

Let her cries by heard, let the voices flood
Let the Canvas of Life be colorful
Let us not paint this canvas red with blood
Let the cries seized, let them be powerful
Life is meant to be prosperous, not blurred
Let the voices of our lost ones be heard

Like a herd of elephants so loud

Holding his bottle of Jack,
whose loves so might
This is the last time that he is allowed
His villainous eyes look me up and down
Oh how I wish he would just stop
A blow to my face, blood gushing down
His broken promises of change are nonstop
No matter how many times I call
The police dont grant me any sanction
The man I loved so dear will now fall
I slyly grasp my knife to take action
I slice his throat so he can no longer speak
Arising from my bed to examine my reaction
He damaged me too many times that week
I am my own absolute hero

Entertainment

11

The Unfiltered Lens

A lot of fury, a lot of fun

Adam McConnell
Contributing writer

The Fast and Furious franchise started out
as a relatively realistic world
of street racing and undercover cops. However, since
that first installment, the series has progressively moved
away from the realm of
reality and towards that of
fantasy.

The latest installment of Fast and Furious
contains scenes revolving
around hand-to-hand combat rather than the traditional car stunts.

Though I found
Furious 7 a mediocre film
full of more plot holes and
inconsistencies than I could
possibly list, it is a very fun
movie to watch. Despite
the very jumpy editing and
some horribly ham-fisted dialogue that would
make an eighties action star
cringe, the overall product is
still one of the best adrenaline-junkie films out there.

The plot centers

around Deckard Shaws (as

played by Jason Statham)
quest for revenge against
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his street racing
crew who crippled Shaws
brother Owen Shaw in
Fast and Furious 6.

The story quickly
begins to revolve around
a computer program referred to as Gods Eye,
which (in typical McGuffin

Hardships
By: William Dansereau,
Victoria Soares,
and Jordan Doughty
Bleak and cold, the biting winds are binding
Lying on the crippled unyielding floor
Working for scraps, every day is grinding
Not a penny to my name, Im dirt poor
A cardboard roof, no place to call my own
Chronic deprivation, hunger of lion
Tattered clothing, shuttered and alone
Transformation, its time to start tryin
Claimed my spot in the unemployment line
Pursuit of happiness, some elbow grease
Going for broke, redemption will be mine
Work at hand; my life will have a new lease
Lost my job but will never lose my pride
Im gonna make it, with God as my guide

hacker style) is a program

that simultaneously taps
into every single wirelessly
accessible camera on earth
in order to track anyone
anywhere. The programs
creator, Ramsey (Nathalie
Emmanuel) has been kidnapped by terrorists and a
wonderfully slimy government agent (Kurt Russell).

He wants Toretto
and company to track them

down in exchange for allowing them to use Gods Eye

to locate Shaw.

One of the movies strengths is that it never
takes itself too seriously, especially with Diesels character, whose love interest,
Letty (Michelle Rodriguez)
has amnesia, seemingly in
order to draw out a bit of
emotional conflict between
the two that is almost imme-

diately forgotten within the

film. Rodriguezs performance is another highlight
of the film, mainly due to a
very well shot fight sequence
between she and UFC fighter, Ronda Rousey.

My biggest problem
is all of the cut-up scenes
within the film; Im quite
certain that there isnt a
single shot that lasts longer
than thirty or forty seconds
before it cuts to a different
shot. This gives the film a
sort of unstable and jumpy
feeling, which can be quite
jarring.

The film ends with a
very touching tribute to the
late Paul Walker, who died
during filming in 2013. His
scenes were filled out with
a mix of body doubles (including his brothers, Caleb
and Cody Walker) and a
CGI doppelganger. In conclusion, Furious 7 is an incredibly effortless movie,
but it is by far, the most fun
movie Ive seen in a while.

Our Justice
By: Nichole DeCastro, Jorge Parez,
and Shelby Asciolla

A lullaby of Sirens
By: Noah Lemieu, Hannah Santos,
Beverly Perez, and Nashaly Medina

The American flag red, white, and blue

Liberating nation in clouded smoke
Our emotions and dedicated brew
To them, a man of hate, it was a joke
Two silver birds crash landed with no words
On this sad day, who knows who had survived?
The remaining survivors ran in herds
With the crash, these people would have been rived

The colors of freedom are red, white, and blue

Protect and serve is the royal decree
When the sirens sound, a life we will lose
Fight for the man, the government bleeds

America just sort of glides along

But beware, do not step on her toes
For her strong belief in right and justice
If so, she will surely stomp out freedoms foes
The man had no sympathy for his crime
And so we fought, we won, we are prime

A mother cries out, the loss of her son

Honors for grades, but his skin made him prey
A monstrous badge, a man with a gun
Generations we stand bound in dismay
Steel barrel aims into a night of plight
Stand to the call of a revolution
Nothing left to lose, just another fight
Combat for hope with no clear solution
Forced are the smiles of our nation
Bring feral offices to their domination

-With Justice for allPoetry provided by Professor Steve Forleos

Introduction to Literature Class

The Foggy Mirror

A juxtaposition of all things pointless and fun

From Jack Rinaldi the writer who brought us A Moderate Proposal: Fetal Workforce Development now
takes us on a journey into
the nasty political environment of higher learning
in
Coming soon to a school
near you

In a world where
being rooted in high quality, low cost education for
many generations of student learners is a thing of
the past.

In a time where
dismantling faculty governance, while empowering outside billion dollar

foundations more in-state

influence driving highly
contentious outcome based
funding formulas is all the
rage.

In a place where
the rich legacy of teaching
excellence and dedicated
service to our fine institution, our great little state,
and the ever growing global community is no longer
needed comes a proposed
bill like no other, known in
the Senate as the bluntly titled Performance Funding
Act of 2015.
Just
when
you
thought it was safe to go to
school many unforeseen,

perhaps unintended complications begin to arise while

destroying everything in its
path including weakening
of academic standards and
causing grade inflation.

From the People
who brought us legislation
proposals such as (Article
20) tethering academics to
workforce development now
brings us a new legislation
S 0603 that is on a mission
to overtly change, threaten, and eventually end all
schools open-access missions.

While robbing faculty of their rightful place in
academic governance and

forcing student-learners to
take less classes and work
harder to pay for their education.

Coming this fall
S 0603 the game changing
legislation bill will make its
way to the senate bringing
with it words like measures metrics and formulas but while leaving
out how these terms will actually be based and if there
will be any significant educational benefits.
The
peoples
college will need a hero,
someone or something with
the vision to help our institutions of higher learning

continue to be the gateway

to personal success that it
has been since 1964.

Someone who can
actually demonstrate an
understanding of CCRI
and our student learners,
someone who will not ignore but consider administrators, faculty, and staff input, someone who can look
introspectively to find out
why these legislators have
continued to defund our
colleges and why they have
forced more tuition hikes
coupled with higher student
fees. But who

Taking the bi out of bigot

Marcus DeFaria
Staff Writer

As every science hating, pickup truck driving,
godfearing redneck knows,
being lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender is a tragic disorder. The question
is, can such a disorder be
cured using the medicines
and knowledge of today?
Even though curing homosexuality is seen as
ridiculous and even hateful
by most tree-hugging liberals, some people embrace
the hope of a solution, and
would even pay to have their
loved ones cured. Many
LGBT teens live in fear of
coming out of the closet
because others are likely to
judge, bully, or even excom-

municate them.
Some youth are
even concerned with being sent to facilities and
groups specifically designed
to cure them, because the
gay friendly media claims
that such places dont work.
There are many people who
have come to accept this illness and lack of piety as an
uncontrollable part of their
lives, but this does not have
to be the case.
Throughout the
country there have been
many different god proven attempts to cure these
poor queer youths of their
perversions. For decades,
dedicated
hatemongers
have harshly supplied many
varieties of tortuous and degrading programs to punish

gay thoughts into submission.

Recently however, a bevvy of intelligent,
accurate, and scientifically
sound information has been
broadcast by left-wing media monsters.
"The overwhelming
scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is
practiced on young people,
is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can
cause substantial harm,"
Valerie Jarrett, one of the
senior advisers to President
Barack Obama, said in opposition to LGBTQ conversion therapy.

According to the
American
Psychological
Association, gay conversion

therapy very rarely successfully converts individuals.

It is not much of a surprise
that this form of therapy
doesnt work, considering
that it often includes berating the individual and seeking causes for their illness.
Rather than attempting to
help these youths accept
themselves, it simply causes further distrust in others
and a sense of self-loathing.
Since when do we live
in a world where people are
supposed to accept themselves? What happened
to the good old days where
people forced themselves to
blend in or were hunted by
torch wielding mobs?
President Barack
Obama and his administration have announced their

support of banning this

conversion therapy for minors. This move will surely
destroy the moral fortitude
of Americas youth by making them happier and more
well adjusted.
There is currently an
online petition that was put
on the White House website following the death of
transgender teen Leelah Alcorn calling for the gay conversion method to be made
illegal.
While the support of
the President is a damaging
step towards getting rid of
cruelty of this type, hope is
not lost for those who wish
to cure loved ones of their
sexuality through heinous
brutality and emotional
abuse.