PCC Courier, February 13, 2003

ЧЛ Beware of Credit Card Fraud №»g| J see page 3 ш Known Author Visits Campus see page 5 It’s a Perfect 10 for the Women see page 6 See ^отиюном'ь Stab- Д ^loday Courier Since 1£)15 VOL. 88 NO. 17 www.pcc-courieronline.com FEBRUARY 13, 2002 I.D. Theft on the Rise Linda Rapka Staff Writer For a Related Story see page 3 An ongoing effort to increase the security of stu¬ dent identity is in full force at PCC. This initiative began in December of 1998 when Social Security numbers ceased from being printed on student Ю cards. Dale Pittman, director of management informa¬ tion services (MIS), sees this effort to increase security as very important to PCC. “The less opportunity you present to people, the better it is,” he stated. Pittman said his goal is to keep Social Security numbers from appearing on “any¬ thing that has potential exposure for the pub¬ lic.” He said it would be “another year or so before we get completely finished.” In the meantime, every student’s Social _ Security number is still printed on the class rosters that teachers carry around and use to take roll.This places student identity at risk. Pending legislation would “prohibit any univer¬ sity or college located in California from using a Social Security number as a student identifier,” as stated in amended AB 46. A Social Security number provides access for a thief to apply for credit under another identity. “The security problem is widespread,” said Robert Cody, assistant dean of computing servic¬ es. He is concerned that some students and staff are acting carelessly with their personal information when using computers on campus. Cody has witnessed instances of people leaving sticky notes on their computer monitors with pass¬ words and personal identification numbers (PIN). However, this sticky note can easily make its way into the wrong hands. Cody has also become aware that students in the computer labs commonly share their PIN and stu¬ dent Ш numbers with friends. “You’d better be really sure these people are your friends,” Cody “ Try to keep credit cards down to a minimum... guard and protect your ID and password. ” --Robert Cody, Assistant Dean of Computing Services said tongue-in-cheekly. Pittman’s “desire to keep things private” regard¬ ing students’ information is a welcomed. New technology is making identity theft increasingly easy, and students need to take every precaution to keep their information private. Campus Police Chief Philip Mullendore demonstrated just how simple it is to access public records with an easy computer program. For a fee of about $15, one can search public records to gain access to all kinds of information on nearly anyone who has established credit. A wealth of information goes into public record after obtaining a credit card. “We so willingly give up personal information,” Mullendore said, adding that once information goes onto public record, “there is no way to opt-out.” Using the program, Mullendore typed in just his first and last name. In under one minute, a massive amount of his personal information appeared on the screen: his social security number, address, phone number, driver license number, annual salary, the year he first applied for a credit card, and the names and addresses of his neighbors. It even revealed that his home is equipped with central heating. Alarmingly, finding all this information is completely legal. “Security is inversely proportional to con¬ venience,” Mullendore said. People swipe credit cards with ease at restaurants but do not think of the information they give up. Mullendore stressed that there must be a bal¬ ance between how much information we give up in return for convenience. There are several safeguards people can utilize to protect their identity. Mullendore advises students to “try to keep credit cards down to a minimum.” With any electronic device set with a password, do not use the standard default. Cody offers these words of advice: “guard and protect your ID and password.” ■ illlliiiiiliiiiii I . 1111111 I ШШ Wayne Leeming/Courier This family enjoys a blustery afternoon at the park. On Campus A.S. Fills 1 Vacancy Terrance Parker News Editor The Associated Students (AS) board filled a vacancy yes¬ terday when they approved Joseph Narvaez for the position of vice president for campus activities. The original eisht aDDlicants were narrowed down to three finalists who were subjected to a grueling personal interview ses¬ sion Feb. 4. “We know who we want,” said Catherine Li, vice president for student services. “We’ll pres¬ ent our choice at next week’s AS meeting.” Li said the committee looked for someone who could quickly be a fully-functioning AS officer. Narvaez appeared to hit the ground running. One hour after taking office he was already talk¬ ing about two bands he might bring on campus. Cost-effectiveness is impor¬ tant to him. “My main concern was how much this position has spent in the past,” he said. “Crowd turnout is the priori¬ ty,” Narvaez continued. “It’s important to get a broader taste of what the campus wants. If we spend S20-S30 per person and the students are unsatisfied, then we’re wasting the students’ money. “I liked the cooperative things the AS did last semester, like the town halls. I want to work with the other vice presi¬ dents on those types of things.” Two positions remain open: vice president for academic affairs and vice president for external affairs. The deadline to apply is 3 p.m. today. Free For All Causes Money Freefall David Arenas/Courier Students wait for assistance at the Health Center. Whitney Porter Staff Writer Many students require aid to pay for their education, but with increas¬ ing tuition costs, fee waivers may do more harm than good. According to Kim Miles, assis¬ tant dean in the office of scholarships and financial aid, a little more than 9,000 students use fee waivers. When multiplied by 12, the amount of money lost is approxi¬ mately $108,000. The health representation fee is a $12 charge used by the Student Health Center to provide medical services to all enrolled students. However, when the fee waiver is applied the health center loses vital funding that cannot be replaced. The health center thrives on the health mandate fee. Without money the health center could be forced to downsize and eventually close. With the health centers current budget cut of $1 6,000, if even a quar¬ ter of the waived fee was reimbursed the health center would not be in financial crisis. These waived fees are often reim¬ bursed to the college, but the student health center never sees a cent of that money, says Jo Buczko, college health nurse. The Board of Governors program grants students to waive enrollment and health fees at California commu¬ nity colleges. “The goal was to provide fee waivers to students who could not afford the fee amount,” said Miles. The Board of Governors stipu¬ lates what fees are mandated and how reimbursement is handled. Buczko stated that reimburse¬ ment is something “we’ve been try¬ ing to get for a long time.” But Miles response was, “it’s (fee waiver program) a hard coded pro¬ gram,” and reimbursements are clearly stipulated. Students cannot choose to pay the health center fee once they have used # see Center, page 3 Parking Delay Equals A Free Stay Ricki Yuen Staff Writer An unexpected printing delay paralyzed all the parking permit machines at PCC for the last cou¬ ple weeks. A lost of minimum $5000 is estimated by Paul Brodnax, park¬ ing service technician. A number of machines have run out of permit since the end of the last semester according to Brodnax. “We did get a generic supply on an emergency bases to hold the services for a while,” Brodnax said. “But it was not enough to take this far to the next semester.” Even though there are a limit¬ ed number of machines opera¬ tional, campus police are current¬ ly not ticketing students for park¬ ing without a permit. “No cita¬ tion” sighs can be observed on all machines on campus. Literally parking is free until all the machines are refilled. Brodnax reminded students Я с щ ■ I mm # J Billin'111 HIM leiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii llliiiiiiiiiiliiiiii . . . . that sighs would be taken off at the time when all the machines are reloaded. Students are responsible for checking the sigh on machines in order to avoid being ticketed. The several hundred pounds of permit is scheduled to be printed on Feb. 7 and shipped to PCC from Louisiana on the following Friday, Feb. 14, according to Brodnax. .:Шжтшй Taylor Richardson/Courier Pacific Parking System Inc. (PPSI), a Louisiana company, has been providing permit machines and permits for PCC for the last seven years. , In Brodnax words, under nor¬ mal circumstances, printing and shipping time should take no more than three weeks to process. PCC placed an order with PPSI on last September when permits ф see PARKING, page 3 Foreign Student Tracking to Begin Ricki Yuen Staff Writer PCC has until Saturday to turn in the information of new foreign stu¬ dents to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) through the new Internet-based Students and Exchange Visitors Information System (SEVIS). The new automated system, mandated by the Congress, is designed to improve the collection of information on foreign students and by establishing real-time updates of student information. PCC, like the other 3000 schools that subscribe to SEVIS nationwide, will now be notified when a foreign student enters the U.S. with his 1-20 form. Within 30 days after the deadline for class registration, PCC has to report to the INS whether or not the student has registered. Foreign students who enter the U.S. with a non-SEVIS form of 1-20 issued prior to January 30, 2003 will receive a new 1-20 before August 1, 2003, according to Barbara Griffith, international student adviser. 1-20 is an immigration document that foreign students receive from schools for admission and readmis¬ sion to the U.S. The new SEVIS 1-20 has a swipe read bar code that allows an immi¬ gration officer to retrieve informa¬ tion of a student in a blink of an eye. The international student office has been collecting information on continuing foreign students at PCC since last semester. The office contacted students via mail and requested personal infor¬ mation. Griffith stressed that stu¬ dents who failed to response will have their names entered without any data. “Nothing bad would happen immediately,” said Griffith. “But [INS] would put a little red flag on their names and the students become someone the immigration officer would notice.” Even though the INS has been trying to computerize the old moni¬ toring system since 1 996, it was not until the 9/11 attacks that the U.S. government realized the paper- based tracking system has been plagued with problems. A few of the hijackers involved in the attacks entered the U.S. with student visas and never showed up for classes. # see SEVIS, page 3