PCC Courier, April 01, 1983

Trustee Asks for Senate Support By Mark Blocker News Editor Trustee Dr. Richard H. Green went before the Faculty Senate Board to discuss their mutual opposition to the second summer ses¬ sion and plea for faculty involvement in his fund-raising campaign which is expected to be approved by the Board of Trustees. The second summer session was criticized by the senate board for moving ADA base (state criterion to determine funding) from spring and fall into summer. Since the second summer session has been alloted 200 sections for instruc¬ tion, 20 full-time positions in the fall and spring could be eliminated, said Faculty Senate Board President Dr. Fredrick E. Holland. “The size of the second summer session makes me question whether or not we can get enough students to come and fill the available enrollment,” said Green. The second summer session was initiated by the Board of Trustees because while only costing $400,000, the term could generate up to $900,000 for the college. . A faculty member from the math department questioned the ability of instructors used during summer since they are not regular staff. He also voiced concern about their compatibility with set departmental procedures that regular faculty work under. It was also said that priority numbers of students in the system are set back because of attendance by students outside the district. In the end, the senate voted 17-1 with two abstentions to oppose the second summer ses¬ sion. Fund-Raising Green also gave the board an outline of his fund-raising program which includes phone-a- thons, radio-thons, solicitations for donations from local businesses, citizens, alumni, parents and students, with a goal of acquiring $2 million for the college. “They (the community) are always talking about how they’re supportive of us. Now we can find out if that support is really there,” said Green. “We don’t want to sit around pointing fingers at each other, figuring out whose program to cut while we’re on the threshold of running out of money, we have to take matters in our own hands, and we can’t do it without the faculty behind us 100 percent,” he said. Green also added, though he didn’t express optimism, that the college should look into ways of acquiring state funds, “ because we no longer want to be 50th on the tax support list.” Though the board ultimately approved of sending representatives to the fund-raising planning committee, not everyone was enthusiastic. “Because of the pink slips (layoff notices) enthusiasm for teaching is questionable, let alone for something like this,” said one faculty member. Metro Exodus Holland also disclosed to the senate that at a district Academic Senate meeting last week, concern was voiced over the possibility of a division in the statewide community college system, as each district lobbies for funding. “The officers of the state-wide senate felt that the three large urban districts, which include Los Angeles, San Diego and even San Francisco, will go ahead and make their own deal,” when the state begins to work on financing legislation for the 1983-84 school year. Holland also read the draft of the Faculty Senate letter recently sent to the state com¬ munity college chancellor requesting an inde¬ pendent audit of the PCC financial records. The letter holds an additional request. “We would also like an explanation of the so- called ‘50-percent rule,’ as only $14 million of our $38 million budget is being spent on instruc¬ tional salaries. Your explanation of the 50- percent rule might disclose whether or not we are in compliance,” read Holland. PCC COURIER MEAT LOAF APPRECIATION WEEK SET — See Food Section VOL. 55. NO. 7 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE. PASADENA. CALIFORNIA APRIL 1, 1983 QUADROPOP The rock band Popsters give a Tuesday noon performance in the quad. — Courier photo by Barrett Stinson Shortfall May Change Because of Progress James Emphasizes Flexibility of '83 Budget Projections By Stephen Williams Editor-in-Chief The projections for the budget short¬ fall will inevitably change as the semester progresses, according to Dr. Bonnie R. James, vice president of business services. “There’s nothing mystical about this. PCC’s income is limited to the 14,080 ADA,” but the budget can change with cuts, said James. “Budget projections are simple and straight forward. There’s income for the college on one end, and a projected budget (expenditure rate through the semester) on the the other. The income must be greater than the expenditures, or the college has a deficit,” he said. The projected budget is estimated to be “$40.2 million.” The college will receive approximately “$34.5 million” from the state, if Governor George Deukmejian’s budget passes. It seems very unlikely that the col¬ lege will get more money, because the state has a projected $1.5 billion defi¬ cit, and by state law, it has to balance the budget like we do, James said. The “$34.5 million” income sub¬ tracted from the “$40.2 million” budget calculates into a $5.7 million deficit. A projected “$2.2 million” ending bal¬ ance, beginning balance for next year, is subtracted from the $5.7 million deficit to give PCC a $3.5 million shortfall. Three components make up the end¬ ing balance, “reserves” (money in the bank, etc . . . ), “actual income versus estimated income” (such as interest rates, which change), and “unexpended balances” (money budgeted, but not spent). “Reserves” and “actual income ver¬ sus estimated income” amounts cannot be controlled, but the unexpended bal¬ ances can be flexible. “By having a freeze on the budget, which we have implemented, the unexpended balance increases.” This does not give us money, but is a “cost avoidance,” said James. “We did not like our forecast, so we froze the budget, which we did four of the last five years after my projections.” Freezing the budget will raise the beginning balance, therefore lowering the shortfall amount. “It could save us $800,000, but the freeze only affects certain areas,” said James. Salaries, 84 percent of the budget, and federal funded money for projects cannot be frozen. The problem centers around the large deficit, which has threatened the school for the past four years. Now calculated to be $5.7 million, it was approximately $3.4 million for the 1982-83 school year, $643,000 for 1981-82, $2.7 million for 1980-81 and $1.5 million for 1979-80. “The expenditures increased, while the income decreased before leveling off” during the period, he said. The problem has been “frustrated” by salary increases and inflation. In 1980-81, there was a 7 percent salary increase, and a two year contract was made with the California Teachers Association (СТА) in 1981 allowing for a 10.5 percent increase. The 1981 contract gave instructors an 8 percent increase for July, 1981— Jan., 1982. Then 2 percent was added to the 8 percent for the spring semester. Being only a semester raise, the figure rounds off to 1 percent for the entire year, making it 9 percent. Summer school accounted for the other 1.5 percent, as an increase of 1/1,000 of the teachers annual salary, was paid on an hourly basis. So if an instructor was paid $35,000 per year, he or she would be paid $35 per hour. Analyzing the problem, James said “the rocks are there (the $3.5 million shortfall), and our (the administration) job is to avoid them. If we hit them, the college gets into trouble, and if we change the course of the boat to miss them, some will believe they were never there.” Accreditation Threatened Budget Cuts Endanger Nursing Department By Leann Sumner Staff Writer The accreditation of the nursing de¬ partment is in jeopardy due to the 53 percent cut in staff proposed for the department, according to Dr. Barbara B. Latham, associate professor of nurs¬ ing. Its eight year accreditation period ends this year, and the department is scheduled to be evaluated for re-ac- creditation in the fall. The department is presently accredited by the National League for Nursing (NLN), of which Latham is chairperson of the board of review, in the accreditation division. Among the problems which will be cited by the review board, according to Latham, is an apparent lack of admin¬ istrative support for the program. The dismissal of 16 of the depart¬ ment’s 30 instructors is the largest cut proposed for any department. “If the workload is not consistant with the rest of the college, a problem will be noted,” said Latham. “Four¬ teen teachers can in no way teach the program as it is, without increasing the workload.” To compensate for the loss of in¬ structors, the remaining teachers will inevitably be assigned to areas in which they have little clinical expertise, said Latham. With the reduction in staff, concern about the admission and progression of students in the program will be ex¬ pressed by the review board, she said. Cuts in support services, such as the library, will also be cited by ac¬ creditors. At last week’s trustees meeting, Latham told the board “there is no better way to jeopardize the accredita¬ tion than to cut back a school’s library staff.” (All six of PCC’s librarians have recieved layoff notices. The review board will also be con¬ cerned with departmental financing. The accreditors will most likely ques¬ tion whether the nursing program is being cut back, or if it will be phased out completely in the future, said Latham. The administration has no intention of phasing out the nursing department, however, the department costs PCC more than $1 million per year, but it does not generate that much money back to the school, said trustee William T. Shatford. The quality of PCC’s nursing pro¬ gram is nationally known, Latham told the Board. It would be better to “close the nursing department while it still has its reputation” than to let the program lose both its accreditation and reputation in a slow death. The NLN accreditation assures a nursing student high quality education. Last year 100 percent of the graduates of PCC’s nursing program passed state board exams for RN and LVN licenses on their first try. The accreditation also provides a basis for determining a student’s eligiblity for federal scholar¬ ships, said Latham. Many hospitals only employ nurses who are graduates of an NLN-ac- credited school, Also, the Armed Serv¬ ices accept only nurses who have grad¬ uated from programs accreditated by the NLN, she said. YES, THEY WANT BLOOD— The Red Cross, that is . . . The Bloodmobile was on campus last Thursday seeking student and staff donors in the campus center lounge. The process is painless and can help save lives. The Red Cross is a world-wide charity organization providing medical and other help to the needy. — Courier photo by Beverly Speakman Library's Entire Certificated Staff Has Received 'Pink Slips' By Denni Young Staff Writer “I can’t run a library without certificated staff anymore than a college can run classes without teachers, said William K. Grainger, head librarian. The classified staff can not do the librarians jobs, and he can not do the work of seven people. “I can’t be in all places at one time,” said Grainger. William I. Weitzel, a librarian who has been with the college for 25 years, expressed concern about the book and magazine collection. ‘ ‘It is discouraging and disheartening to work on building a good book and magazine collection and suddenly, in my view, to see it all going down the tubes, sdid Weitzel Grainger pointed out that in the Carvell study, 97.7 percent of respondents expressed an opinion considering the library resources as “essential” to PCC. In the 1980 Accreditation report, faculty and students gave excellent evaluations to the library. Grainger believes that these are sufficent reasons to give the library highest priority. “It is clearly performing well and is considered essential by virtually everyone in the academic community,” he said. “The library is not a library without librarians, ’’said Weitzel. Weitzel believes the classified and student staff won’t be able to keep up and utilize the collection properly. The classified staff is strong, but they are not librarians, said Weitzel, “they don’t have degrees in library science.” Section 52000 of Title V of the state administrative code states that “no person shall be employed by a district as a librarian unless such person holds a valid credential.” Under section 52360 of the same code, the basis for insurance of a credential is a master’s degree in library science. A librarian selects, organizes and supervises the distribu¬ tion of library materials. “Indexes don’t just happen, the librarians do them,” said Grainger. “The library has one of the best card catologs, perhaps the best anywhere. “Librarians are teachers. They instruct and assist library users in the utilization of the library’s materials,” said Grainger. According to section 87436 of the state education code, “any librarian when employed full time . . . shall rank as an instructor.” Librarians teach students strategies and skills for finding information, said Grainger. “Librarians work with students on a one-to-one basis all day long.” A library class is presently taught that teaches students basic library procedures, but in Grainger’s opinion, it will probably be discontinued. According to Grainger about 150 to 200 students take the class every year. The classified staff consists of technical assistants, library clerks and student assistants. These positions are less educationally demanding than a librarian’s, said Weitzel, they can be learned on the job or in a junior college course. “It’s unreasonable to expect them to pick up the pieces,” he said. Some of the librarians have “bumping rights,” said Grainger. They can “bump” an instructor with less ex¬ perience, providing they can teach that particular class. An automated circulation system will be installed in the library, said Grainger. “There will be no one here to develop the new circulation system.” According to Grainger, an on¬ line catolog system takes knowledgeable professionals to develope procedures and operate the system. “Adequacy of the library is a factor in determining whether an institution will be granted full five-year ac¬ creditation, ’’said Grainger. Accredidation teams will nor¬ mally look to guidelines such as those published by the Learning Resources Association of California Community Colleges (LRACCC). The LRACCC’s 1980 guidelines specify a certificated staff of eight full-time equivalents to serve a student body the size of PCC. “We currently fall 35 percent below that standard, ’’said Grainger. “The accreditation teams have always been concerned with the library. They won’t look the other way and pretend it did not happen,” said Weitzel. According to Grainger, the cuts will not destroy the library, but it will destroy its ability to do what it is suppose to do. “Reason rather than emotion should prevail,” said Grainger. (