BY IGOR MELLO

SPORTS EDITOR

With the start of the 08-09 Women’s Basketball season set to embark on Oct.18 at the Southern Conference Jamboree, the Lady Seahawks seem poised to prove that things have changed this season. To prepare for the season opener the team held a “Mid-day Madness” scrimmage game on Oct. 4 at the George E. Mayer Gymnasium to display to the fans what is in store for the team this season.

“It’s a good morale-builder. For us as coaches we get to see how some of them play together. Today I learned something new about the team that I didn’t know so that’s why these kind of things are good for the team,” said the new ladies basketball coach Mike Schawe. “Now I know who I got to work and who I don’t have to work.”

Although the team has 11 new freshmen and one transferee, the former assistant coach was there for the ride last season when the ladies fell short at the state tournament and it almost feels as if they have some unfinished business.

“We’re looking to win the conference championship this year. That is our goal. I believe that we can do it,” said Schawe at the Mid-day Madness scrimmage.

After some off-season training and conditioning, the Lady Seahawks took on the hardwood for the Blue vs. White game. As the game progressed, it was clear to see that the top scorer on the court out of both teams was Mellisa Caplan, a transferee from PBCC who scored 32 of the Blue's 68 points in a win over the White team..

“Mellisa Caplan had an outstanding game. She actually impressed me very much, especially how well she worked with the team,” said Schawe. “I knew she was a good player, we were worried about playing her when we played Palm Beach every time.”

Caplan claims that her new team is finally coming together and seems to be happy at her new school.

“I didn’t like the (Palm Beach) coach. I was going to go back but they did not have any room,” said the sophomore forward Caplan. “He wasn’t fair to the team and he just judged me too much so I don’t like him.”

Following the scrimmage the fans got to interact with the players and were later treated with free pizza, macaroni and cheese, curry chicken and pork alongside with free beverages. Schawe promised the fans that they would make it to states and it seems as if the players are behind him.

“I think we’re going to be a great team, we’re young but fast, and strong and really smart,” said sophomore forward Dawna Wright. “Were underdogs, people don’t know what they’re going to get,” said Wright. “They are really going to be shocked on how well this team is.”

The newly promoted coach stressed that the team still needs some improvement on defense and rebounding and is still tweaking the offense.

“We’re going to have a lot of motion, a lot of pick and rolls, a lot of one on one isolations because as you see we have a great shooting team,” said Schawe.

The anticipation is growing, as the Lady Seahawks will tip-off their home opener on Nov. 13 against the Miami Rain AAU team. All home games are scheduled to take place at the Omni Auditorium on North Campus.

Worth The Drive

By Philippe Buteau
South Bureau Chief

How do I go about reviewing Sex Drive? Should I use almost four hundred words to say how much I enjoyed it, get really cynical and discuss why it isn’t the greatest movie of this type or try to convince those that decided to not see the movie to see it?

Whichever angle I pick I still wouldn’t know where to start.

For example, I could start with the characters. Which, excluding the male and female leads, were really defined, written and played by their respective actors. James Marsden (Cyclops in the X-Men trilogy) did such a good job in a role so different from what I’ve seen him do that I’d go so far as to compare him to Tom Cruise’s character in Tropic Thunder.

But if there was one character that made the movie it would have to be Lance played by Clark Duke. The “get-all-the-girls” nerd is a rare treat in movies, and Duke plays it extremely well.

There are also about a half-a-dozen more well written and played supporting characters, such as the sarcastic Amish mechanic played by Seth Green.

But I don’t want to start this review with the characters. Maybe how funny the movie is?

It certainly is funny, especially if the idea of a cruder American Pie sounds good to you.

However, the funny, which isn’t to spread out, comes more from what is seen as opposed to what is heard, but in this movie physical comedy works. Not physical in that “hit in the head with a wrench” way, but physical none-the-less.

No, I won’t start like that. I know, I’ll start with the story and the lesson it tries to teach.

But should I discussing a story as clichéd as this? A story of the “poor virgin” going on an adventure to get his. Thankfully the specifics aren’t predictable, but you realize that you saw the ending in American Pie 2. And the moral of the movie itself can’t really be argued, but its introduction at the movie’s conclusion didn’t make much sense.

Nah, not that way.

Now I’m stuck. I really did enjoy this movie and would recommend it to people who just want to laugh in their comedies and don’t need story; I just don’t know how to start this review.

After Two Years, Still Fighting For A Contract

By W. Earle Simpson

STAFF WRITER


For the third consecutive year, Faculty at Broward College will continue to work without a Ratified Contract if the administration and the Union- United Faculty of Florida (UFF) find no solution to what has been declared an ‘impasse’.

“Over the last several years there have been a series of problems at the negotiations between the union and the board of trustees. The board of trustees has been very slow in granting an agreement to the faculty contract. Two years ago the board put off voting on our contract for four months. There was an agreement in July 2006, but the board waited and waited until November and since then, we have not gotten a ratified contract. In fact, in September the board declared an impasse,” noted Robert Koppelman, UFF State Senator and BC faculty member.

That impasse led to a Public Employees Relations Commission-PERC arbitration, for which a ruling will be had on Oct. 25, 2008. According to Dr. Daniel Rieger, Vice President of UFF and Chief Negotiator of UFF/BC, “There are legal issues that have been encountered in terms of getting a contract and those legal issues have been addressed in a recent hearing before PERC at the end of Aug. 2008.” PERC is the organization that holds hearings throughout the state of Florida on labor and employment disputes. After hearings, PERC issues a final order, which may be appealed directly to the District Courts of Appeal.

But the Union is not expecting that an appeal will have to be made. “I have no basis for thinking that the ruling will be against the Faculty, but if it is in favor of the Union, the Administration may appeal…in which case, I would be unable to say when Faculty will have a ratified contract,” cautioned Dr. Rieger.

Ratification of contracts has been an annual event since Faculty first joined the UFF on May 22, 1981. The UFF prides itself in effectively negotiating collective bargaining contracts, thereby “strengthening administrative accountability and faculty authority,” and promises Florida higher education professionals to bargain on their behalf for “improve salaries, hours, terms and conditions.” Since 1981, UFF would, between February and March of each year, smoothly negotiate contracts on behalf of its BC members.

But according to the Nov. 2006 issue of the UFF Community College Update, “today a board of trustees appointed by Governor Jeb Bush is challenging faculty standards and principles in ways faculty have never seen before…but Broward faculty is rising to the challenge.”
Back then, according to a report in the October issue of this paper, faculty members rose to the challenge by “dress[ing] in black and graduation attire and picketed on what they viewed as a violation of an agreement made between UFF and BCC administration on Oct. 12 on Central Campus.” Those demonstrations did not render a solution to the problems they sought to highlight. Rather, they were reported to have resulted in the resignation of the then president.

Today, whereas faculty is still upset, both they as well as the head of administration are exhibiting caution in ways contradictory to the openness and bravery associated with their actions in 2006. “Some faculty may be reluctant to talk about it because we just want position to be stated. We want to make our position very clear; what we think the legal and ethical issues are and we want to keep those front and center,” opined Koppelman. When prompted to comment, President Armstrong, apparently mindful of legal implications, related that he’d rather speak on the issue after the PERC, while several calls made to Human Resources and Equity Vice President, Dr. Edna Chun were not returned.

At the heart of the matter, according to the UFF, are issues arising from articles five, six and seven of the 2006-2007 Collective Bargaining Agreement between UFF/BC and The Board of Trustees of BC. Article five deals with faculty compensation; article six with benefits, including health insurance, while article seven with faculty work conditions. “Over the years since 1981, some of these issues have been debated and re-debated,” said Damon Davis, UFF/BC president. “The issue of salaries and benefits which houses health care, which houses dental care and all the benefits that are entitled to faculty. But the sore points here would be salary increases; how much there are and how they are calculated.”

Each year the board and UFF struggles to agree on these three areas but board member Levi Williams sees the problem a different way. “I think that at the heart of the matter is really the difficulty of the union to make a decision in the best interest of those that it serves,” he insisted.

Davis countered and in clear reference to his 400 members, representing 70% of faculty, said, “our take on this is that we are a part of a family and we have to interact as a family. We are in the house, not outside of it. We serve a major role and I think a justifiable one.” Furthermore, like Koppelman, Davis believes that the board violated state law when they gave a salary increase without having a written agreement.

Yet, sometimes the line between where one year’s negotiation completes and the next begins is blurred by lack of agreement and when asked why not opt for longer term contracts, Dr. Rieger commented, “Our lives are not static. Our lives are subject to change and because of that it is important to negotiate compensation and benefits year to year. The advantage of having a yearly ratification is that issues that arise can be addressed immediately.”

Not-with-standing Rieger’s comment, Williams thinks that “the contract before everybody that the union is using has been patch worked, piece-mealed and bastardized for the last 20 to 40 years,” he said. “There are terms and conditions in the contract that make it difficult for both parties to move forward in an effective and productive manner. I have communicated with representatives of the union multiply times about the fact that the contract needs to be overhauled. If that was done, one of the potential benefits would be the possibility of multi-year agreements. Under the current contract, such agreements would be impossible due to its many ambiguous and failing language.”

So how will this crisis be resolved? “We believe that PERC will rule in our favor and if they do, it will set a precedent that the board has to follow the law. And once the board is humbled somewhat, realizing that they can’t just do anything they want, ultimately, the administration will have to show more integrity and honesty in their negotiations with us,” Koppelman suggested. “But if the ruling goes against us, I think we will continue to have difficulties until this board or some of its members get replaced.”

But until then, everyone awaits the PERC rulings.