Show Administration Looking But Where Weekly Whine r rBy By John Nielson S J Editorial Editor Edita I have been accused of many the Horizon things in my stint at The accusations some legitimate range from being slanderous to producing producing producing pro- pro tabloid journalism Nearly every time that I am critical of any campus group or organization I get assailed with these original names It seems that the Horizon is not the only newspaper in Salt Lake that points out when something isn't right at good old I am referring to an article that appeared in the Saturday May 10 issue of The Salt Lake Tribune Anyone that read the paper knows that the article does not shed a good goodlight goodlight goodlight light on Salt Lake Community College According to the Tribune has had an opening for a couns counselor lor that would work primarily with American Indian students for over a year now This means that the American Indian students enrolled at Salt Lake Community College dont don't have an adviser that is dedicated dedicated dedi dedi- to their needs This is not a problem for me personally personally personally per per- because I am not an r V J American Indian Salt Lake Community College claims to be fair to all students According to the Equal Opportunity Opportunity Affirmative Affirmative Action Statement in the brand new catalog Salt Lake Community College is an equal opportunity institution providing educational and employment opportunities without regard to race color religion religion religion reli reli- gion sex national origin age or disability It sure seems like the American Indian students on campus are not being provided an equal educational opportunity that the other students are Judd Morgan Student Services Vice President told the Tribune that he believes it has not taken the administration too long to hire an adviser Morgan also believes the wait is worth it if the right person can be found for the job Does it really take that long to find someone to fill a vacancy According to the Tribune people people people peo peo- applied for the job when it first was posted in April 1996 Over 89 of the applicants had at least a bachelors bachelor's degree So it sounds like there were many qualified candidates candidates candidates can can- for the job The administration offered the job to a candidate and the candidate turned it down So the process started over again A second candidate candidate candidate candi candi- date was offered the job and this individual also declined So maybe maybethe the third time will be the charm when the third time finally happens Or maybe the job offer needs to be sweetened a little bit The argument can be made that students dont don't deserve their own counselor regardless of race There are plenty of other minority groups including people that are are short tall fat thin left-handed left and right-handed right that do not have their own counselor So why should American Indian students get a counselor It is a simple answer The American Indian students at Salt Lake Community College should have a counselor specifically for their needs because the college states that we are an equal opportunity affirmative affirmative affirmative action institution The college is being a discriminatory discriminatory discriminatory institution while the job vacancy exists As long as the wording in the Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Statement remains unchanged the college is discriminating specifically against race color and national origin This is not acceptable The statement could be changed to say Salt Lake Community College is an equal opportunity institution providing educational and employment opportunities without regard to race color religion religion religion reli reli- gion sex national origin age or disability as long as it is convenient to the administration I wonder what would happen to Salt Lake Community College if we didn't have a Vice President of Student Services for over a year Maybe things would be better for all students regardless of race color religion sex national origin age or disability Now that the Tribune has printed a story that doesn't make the college college college col col- lege look very good will they be called proprietors of tabloid journalism journalism journalism jour jour- Are they going to be accused of slander or more correctly correct correct- ly libel I hope r not It is nice to f j see one one of the primary mass media in the Salt Lake Valley examine issues that should cause concern among the students and faculty of Salt Lake Community College |