Source: http://img.dailymail.co.uk

On Wednesday, April 25, Bellevue College kicked off the start of the Alcohol Awareness Fair in the Cafeteria by presenting faculty member Gerald Blackburn of the Chemical Dependency Counseling Center. The speaker presented a PowerPoint in room N201 about the socially overlooked physiological realities accompanying and stifling drug addicts, which are biological intermediaries hidden to the public.

“The central nervous system works like keys and locks-a cascading system of use which leads dependence by the individual. We have 89 different genes that relate to compulsive disorders,” said Blackburn.

He describes the spiral-like process which precedes all drug addictions. A self-proclaimed former alcoholic himself, Blackburn stresses that spectators must understand this concept when confronted with a family member, acquaintance or long-time friend held hostage by their addiction.

“Chemicals become the most important thing. It is not an issue of choice, self-control, character and certainly not an issue of morality…although these factors circulate around addiction pretty consistently in terms of misconception in our society,” he said.

The route to addiction according to Blackburn is pretty simple: “The majority of drug addicts start in early adolescence because they do not have the full development of the prefrontal cortex to make these decisions.”

While he was saying this, a blue screen lit up, outlining a brain with arrows pointing to two sections of the organ. One section was the nucleus accumbens, located in the center of the brain as the headquarters of the body’s pleasure centers. Located in the forehead is the prefrontal cortex, which determines judgment and reasoning.

“Addiction is simply a state in which an organism engages in compulsive behavior (drug use) because the behavior is physiologically rewarding. Subsequently the ability to control or limit this behavior is lost.”

His anecdotal evidence and use of attaching intellectual classifications to words such as “blackout,” which he referred to as “alcohol induced amnesia,” was just one of his ways of vocalizing the severity of alcoholism.

He mapped out the stages of drug addiction throughout the PowerPoint, beginning with the trial stages where the use of the drug may be regarded as and practiced recreationally.  He then describes what the screen further highlighted as the “tolerance” segment.

“It is when the central nervous system and the body physically need more of the chemical in order to get the same results,” says the speaker.

Lastly, the presentation progressed to elaborate upon the ins and outs of the “dependence” stage: “A state in which the organism functions normally only when the drug is present and withdrawal symptoms occur when the chemical is removed.”

Blackburn went on to say, “I can justify everything that happens after that; you know, homelessness is like camping.”

The diagnostic criteria is where one must have at least three out of seven symptoms to be considered chemically dependent. The behavioral symptoms include: Increased tolerance, loss of intake control, use in spite of negative consequences, attempts made to control use, withdrawal symptoms/use to avoid symptoms, social behavioral changes to accommodate use and preoccupation with use and associated activities.

Illustration by Brandy Pickering

On March 26, a bill entitled SB 5217 was passed, allowing the appointment of student members on the board of trustees in community and technical colleges in the state of Washington. This means that at each community and technical college, the board of trustees can add a sixth member to their board. The appointment must be preceded by a majority vote of three-fifths of the trustees. If the board chooses to exercise this option, they will go through with the application of this process.

The application  is still in the process of being written out and verified as a legitimate document, however, this is good news for all who have advocated for the passing of this bill. According to BC’s OSLA Legislative Director Jake Atwell-Scrivner, what spurred his activity in the movement towards definitive student voices on community college campuses was the lack of student representation in decisions by college officials, and the reality that for ten years now, four-year universities have found it mandatory that a student trustee serve on the board of regents. Such is the case at the University of Washington, who proudly employs a trustee whom Atwell-Scrivner has been speaking with about the complexities of these issues. “We figured, if it’s good enough for the four-years, it should be good enough for the two-year schools.”

“Community colleges sometimes serve a more diverse community than four-years do.” Having student voice[s] is an invaluable tool that the community colleges can use,” said Atwell-Scrivner. According to his speculations, student voices could significantly impact the decisions on various crucial budget plans. These decisions drastically alter the reality of student life, such as how much funding is given towards certain programs and anything which irrigates the money flow on a college campus.

This movement towards legislative student voices has been underway for five years, long before Atwell-Scrivner or many other current activists had even heard about the bill. Although Atwell-Scrivner and his comrades are ecstatic about this bill, there are still slight alterations which they would like to see implemented as far as technicalities go.

At first, the Senate version was amended in the House to make it optional to add a tenth member to the larger jury of representatives known as the State Board, which directly influences the 34 collective community and technical colleges in the state of Washington. What the SB 5217 is currently providing is a student voice within the representatives serving each individual school. Apparently, the advocates find this wonderful, but Atwell-Scrivner and his colleagues hope to pass an amendment which requires a student benefactor in this much more powerful “umbrella” board of trustees. This current bill gives the option for the board to call upon a student at the school level. An amendment which was recently shot down by the State on Feb. 27, 2012, would make it mandatory to have a student serve on the board.

For now, Atwell-Scrivner says that all who have worked on the passing of this bill is pleased with the recent improvement towards student representation. He says “we would just like to show other community and technical colleges that it does work.”

Graphic by Seth Walker

The City of Yakima will be hosting this year’s Washington State Community College’s 22nd Annual Student of Color Conference. It will be held from April 19-21. Students who have been selected will leave on a Thursday afternoon and return the coming Saturday. This year, 60 students from Bellevue College have applied, but only 40 people were selected to attend. Due to the extended number of applicants, this is the first year where BC has seen a waiting list for this conference. The conference is run by the MCS (Multicultural Services) Director’s Counsel, in which every community college in Washington has a representative.

“The point of this conference is to raise students’ levels of awareness around race, ethnicity, and social justice – it cannot happen in one weekend, but a lot of students become jolted and inspired to get involved in social activism,” says Aaron Reader, Assistant Director of Multicultural Services at Bellevue College. This will be his sixth year as an advisor for the conference. He also had the task of selecting which students could attend the conference.The conference consists of about 95 percent community college students from around the state. There are 650 students from the Pacific Northwest attending.

Students attending the conference can expect to become well acquainted with their social, ethnic, and cultural identity, as the very first day the workshops consist of caucuses designed for discussions between members who share the same ethnic identity.

“The point is knowing about your own identity, before commenting and understanding others,” said Reader. The afternoon will be closed with an open mic night, where students will be showcasing their special talents of dancing, spoken words, music, etc. “The next day is broken down into a number of sessions, split up throughout the day, such as social justice, personal development, awareness of others, and cross-cultural communication skills,” said Reader. Friday will host workshops discussing various cultural groups such as LGBTQ, bi-racial, African-American, Pacific-Islander, or White. This night ends with the annual dance, which many student look forward to every year.

“It is a very emotionally draining conference, once the bulk of social justice comes about, which asks people to engage in conversations about race,” said Reader.He says he has seen students having difficulties being part of the conversations, then later sees the same student’s awareness and tolerance levels rise the next day. A memorable moment for this particular advisor, which is reiterated every year, is seeing students from the conference develop momentum and inspiration from the conference, to desire actively contributing to social change in their own communities and in their own homes. “It’s rewarding seeing that the inspiration for action was garnered from the conference.”

Photo courtesy of Bellevue College Foundation

The Bellevue College Foundation has recently dedicated the Academic Success Center to highlight and commemorate the generosity of Stan and Michele Rosen.
Stan Rosen is currently serving as a board member on the Bellevue College Foundation’s team of trustees. This will be his third year in service. His generous donations to this college, in particular, stems from his early days as an academic in this campus.
The ceremony was held on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. The reception began in non-other than the Academic Success Center building, a location many students are doubtlessly very familiar with. Light conversation, pleasant music and a pleasant mood were all in tow to begin the recognition of these humble, yet outstanding individuals.
The first speaker to pay tribute was Dale King, one of the Board of Directors at Bellevue College. Rosen joined the Board of Directors in 2006, and was one of the first advocates of a seemingly far-fetched goal to reach seven million dollars for the foundation.
Now this was no small venture but thanks to the optimistic visions of all who worked to achieve this number, Bellevue still continues to remain one of the paramount public colleges in the state.  During Dale’s gratitude speech to the couple he regarded them as “two shining lights and examples of how to effectively support the college.”
The next speaker was Interim President of Bellevue College, Laura Saunders, who shared her appreciation for knowing Stan both personally and professionally. She knew him personally as he has in the past shared with her priceless advice concerning Bellevue Real Estate. Professionally, she’s worked with him on the Bellevue College Board of Trustees and the BC Foundation.
“Thank you for being exemplar leaders in the community,” said Saunders, as she handed them a blue plaque entitled: “Stan and Michele Rosen Academic Success Center.”
Listed on the plaque were reminders of specific areas of his contributions to BC. The services the Success Center provides include academic tutoring, a math lab, a reading lab, and a writing lab.
He jokes that he was one of the first to utilize the four-years of education this school now provides, as it took him this long to receive his Associate’s in Arts due to frequent trips to Israel during that time.
He looks back on those years with delight and a sense of sentiment, as he truly believes Bellevue is special in its approach to education.
He recalls his period of enrollment at this college as wonderful years in which he received nothing short of quality teaching, even better than his experience at the University of Washington.
His favorite courses here ranged from anthropology to speech. Acknowledging this time as a crucial aspect of his own personal development, Stan always told himself that as soon as he was able, he would give back to this institution. We can all be grateful he kept that promise.