The San Matean

A lie-in protest against lax gun control laws is planned for Wed., April 16, marking the one year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. The protest will take place at 12 p.m. in front of the fountain by the cafeteria. The protest at CSM will be one of many nationwide.

The nonprofit choir "Viva La Musica" celebrated the life of former Congressman and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos at his memorial service. The service took place Wed. March 26 at the South San Francisco Convention Center. "Viva La Musica" was chosen for the memorial because of their previous affiliation with Lantos.

Faculty from the English Department participated in a national conference for university and college instructors April 2-5 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year's conference was titled "Writing Realities, Changing Realities." Associate Professor of English, James Caranza, English professor, Katherine "Teeka" James, and English instructor Jon Kitamura, made a one hour and 15 minute presentation at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, held for college professors of composition and communication, said Caranza.

For the past three semesters, CSM student Mike Shanahan has been trying to create a campus garden. Finally, Shanahan, 20, has received funding from the ASCSM and found a location to build a student garden. "I would come from swimming every day and just got tired of seeing concrete and weeds," said Shanahan.

The campus website will receive a complete facelift, following a survey conducted by the Public Relations department at CSM. Beverley Madden, the director of college development and marketing, is currently overseeing the overhaul of the website in order to make it friendlier for web visitors.

The ASCSM election season for the 2008-2009 academic year has arrived for students interested in participating in the student government. There are 22 Student Senator positions available, in addition to the positions of President, Vice President and District Student Trustee nominee.

The health center now offers a new service called the Family Pack, which includes STD testing and treatment, birth control, and PAP Smear Screening. In order for a student to qualify, he or she must be a citizen of California. No one over the age of 65 or currently pregnant can receive the benefits of the package.

The College of San Mateo Library will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of National Library Week from April 13 to 19. NLW is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. The event was first sponsored in 1958 and now it is celebrated at libraries all over the nation to promote library use.

CSM is hosting "Invisible Children," a documentary about the war-torn country of Uganda on April 17. The event will show a documentary about young children from Uganda who are fleeing the rebels, the Lord Resistance Army. The LRA often kidnaps young boys and force them to join their cause.

KCSM is in the process of digitizing a collection of donated jazz records, a task which has spanned about four years so far. The out-of-print vinyl library was acquired about four or five years ago, said Chris Cortez, KCSM producer/FM announcer. The project started with about 30,000 recordings, and there are about 8,000 left to go.

Finals are approaching soon, and a traditional event dating back to the 1980's is also approaching, to settle the hectic mood of finals, Spring Fling. The event will be held Mon. May 5 to May 8 in the upper pond area of CSM. "Spring Fling is ASCSM's annual week long event that allows students to relax and have fun before finals" said ASCSM Treasurer Tiffany Won.

Several under performing programs are under examination through "Program Viability," which may lead to some programs being changed or cut. A program may not be viable if "enrollment and retention trends" are on the decrease or if the program is not "cost effective," according to a Memorandum issued February 4, by Susan Estes, vice president of Instruction.