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Students must get involved in
the struggle to save our
schools.
Page 2
Club Shelter houses three
precepts: Love life. Live happy.
Dance in peace.
Роде
5
SPORTS
Softball team beats El
Camino in SCC play.
Page 6
Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
VoL 75 No. 7
COURIER
Thursday
April 1, 1993
Telephone
registration
set to start
By ANISSA VICENTE
Editor in Chief
Stuart Wilcox, dean of admis-
sionsand records, announced the in¬
stallation of the new priority regis¬
tration system in PCC.
Starting Monday, April 19 and
running through Friday, April 30,
from 7 a.m. to 1 0p.m., students have
the chance to try out the new $ 100,000
telephone registration system on
campus.
Housed in the R building, the
new computer contains 30 phone
lines and a completely automated
program that allows students to reg¬
ister for classes in as little as two
minutes. It is available to all con¬
tinuing, returning and new students
registering in credit classes, parent
education classes and courses in the
Community .Skills
Center.
“It has all Lhc
advantages of
mail-in registra¬
tion and none of
the disadvan¬
tages,” W ilcox
said. “Students
would be crazy not
to use it.”
Wilcox is invit¬
ing all students to
call (818) 577-
6100 and perform
a stress test on the
system that took
two years to plan,
fund and com¬
plete. The trial
period should
eliminate all un¬
foreseen problems
and glitches in the
system. After
April 30, the
computer will be
shut down until the
first students call
in to register lor
the summer ses-
sion beginning on May 10.
Continuing students may pick up
their permits to register in D2(X). It
will contain each student’s priority
registration time and a worksheet
detailing information about the new
system. Students may register on or
alter their assigned date and time,
but not before. The same priority
registration system the college has
used since 1982 assigned each stu¬
dent’s telephone registration time.
“Finally, there is some good news
on campus,” said John Quion, 21
and a nursing student. “I used the
system last year in Citrus and it
really saved me a lot of hassle.”
Wilcox said die system is an ex¬
cellent investment in terms of con¬
venience and improvement on effi¬
ciency. Students no longer have to
drive into the already congested cam¬
pus to join long lines of other stu¬
dents waiting to enroll in classes.
The new telephone registration sys¬
tem will also take the guesswork out
of curriculum planning, as the com¬
puter will immediately tell die user
if a desired class is full or not.
The software is also programmed
to check if the class has prerequi¬
sites, if the user has already met
those prerequisiles
or is on probation
and if there are any
financial holds
against that stu¬
dent.
After keying in
their verified iden¬
tification and
choosing their
classes, students
are given five
working days to
either mail or walk
in with their pay¬
ment. Otherwise,
the classes will be
cancelled. The
telephone system
also accepts Visa
and Mastercard
credit cards.
The computer
will adjust fees if
the student is re-
Photo by MIKE JENNINGS/ ceiving financial
The COURIER aid and will accept
Stuart Wilcox, dean of admissions, payments for park-
explains the finer points of the ing permits. Enroll-
new telephone registration. ment fee receipts
— - will be mailed to
students after payment has been
received and recorded. All through¬
out the registr ation process, students
may return to their original menu or
abandon the system altogether.
A helpline will be available for
See “TELEPHONE,” page 4
nab suspected thief
Photo by NATHAN WOOD/ The COURIER
Pasadena police surround two car theft suspects in a gas station on Allen and Colorado Boulevard.
Police
By KATRINA P. TEN
Staff Writer
After a chase that began on the
east 2 1 0 Freeway , S hawn Baskin,
20, of Monrovia, was arrested for
grand theft auto last Thursday.
Pasadena police officers with
the help of campus police appre¬
hended Baskin after he abandoned
a stolen, white 1981 Oldsmobile
Cutlass in the student parking lot
on Hill and Colorado. Officers
pursued Baskin through the R, C,
and U buildings, capturing Baskin
in the restroom of the Burger King
on the comer of Colorado and
Bonnie. No one was injured in
the chase.
Monitoring the incident on a
scanner, the campus police were
aware of the chase on the 210
Freeway and on Hill Avenue.
“We decided to get into the
matter when a foot pursuit be¬
gan,” said campus police investi¬
gator Steven Lester.
Parking officer Dede Harris
with four other campus officers
joined on foot. Baskin tried to
escape by running into the R and
C buildings, and around the U
building. Although there were
classes and students in the hall¬
ways, the eastern part of the
campus was relatively quiet, ac¬
cording to officer Lester.
“Our main concern was to ap¬
prehend the suspect before he
blended in as a student,” said
Lester.
The incident began when
undercover Pasadena detective
Mark Hansen was almost broad¬
sided by a merging Cutlass near Lin¬
coln and Forest avenues.
“I had to apply my brakes to
avoid a collision,” said detective Mark
Hansen. “I believe the driver was
not looking,” added Hansen who
proceeded to check the Cutlass’ li¬
cense plate.
The radio check reported the
Cutlass stolen from Cal State LA on
March 23. At the time, Hansen was
carrying civilians in his car, so a
police helicopter was dispatched with
four to five black and white units.
Entering the east 210 Freeway, the
Cutlass was followed by two black
males in a black Mazda RX7. Near
the Lake off-ramp, acar chase began
when the driver of the Cutlass no¬
ticed the police units. The Cutlass
and the RX7 exited on Hill avenue
with the latter car getting lost in the
scuffle. Dodging oncoming cars,
Baskin tried to elude capture by
driving on the wrong side of the
street going southbound on Hill. With
police cars in close pursuit, Baskin
turned into the student parking lot.
Baskin abandoned the Cutlass, lead¬
ing the officers and campus police
on a foot chase.
In an attempt to confuse the offi¬
cers, Baskin discarded his jacket in
the R building to alter his appear¬
ance. This ploy failed when the
pursuing helicopter officer Marie Lang
later identified the suspect end¬
ing the incident. Pasadena offi¬
cers took Baskin into custody
booking him for suspicion of
grand theft auto and evading
officers. He is currently being
held at Pasadena Jail.
On the way back to the police
station, Baskin commented to
officers that there was his ride,
the RX7. The two suspects in
that car were arrested at a gas
station on the comer of Colorado
boulevard and Allen avenue and
were released after questioning.
This is the second high-speed
police chase that ended on the
PCC our campus this semester.
Governance plan proposed
Committee recommends centralized administration for CCs
there are some who think that the state
ought to be calling the shots and not the
districts. It doesn’t work that way.’
Warren Weber,
Board of Trustees member
By ALFREDO SANTANA
News Editor
Saying that the community col¬
lege system must find alternative
ways to spend money more effi¬
ciently, statewide college officials
formed a special commission which
recommended some administrative
changes that, if approved by law¬
makers, would drastically affect the
way two-year colleges govern them¬
selves.
The commission proposed that a
“coordinated decentralized” system
should be adopted. If the legislature
passes the plan, several of the cur¬
rent governing powers that district
would shift to a central governing
body in Sacramento. Some of the
changes recommended include:
1) A shifting of authority for
governance and administration of
college districts to the Board of Gov¬
ernors, the system’s statewide gov¬
erning body.
2) The Board of Governors would
have the power to remove and ap¬
point college presidents, without con¬
sulting the college trustee members.
It also would establish a statewide
salary schedule for all faculty mem¬
bers.
3) The plan calls for the Board of
Governors to have budget control
over all districts.
The “Commission on Innovation”
is composed of a group of private
business consultants who have their
offices in Berkeley.
The consultants, who belong to
the Berman-Weiler Associates group,
suggested the current system of
governance should be modified in
order to promote efficiency, coordi¬
nation in academic matters, accounta¬
bility for the school’s expenditures
and local control.
Facilities, education technology
and business partnership are some of
the issues the consulting group is
also exploring.
Dr. Jack Scott, superintendent-
president, declined to comment on
the matter since the proposal has not
officially reached the Board of
Governors.
Dan Weiler, a member of the
group, described the plan as giving
local districts “more, rather than less,
Please see “PLAN,” page 5
Drive-by shooter arrested
By RODNEY MITCHELL
Staff Writer
Just a coin’s toss away from
where toddlers play atachild care
center, gunfire erupted when the
driver of a white Cadillac opened
fire on a lone man walking
through the wesL parking lot of
the Community Skills Center
(CSC) on Wednesday, March 24,
a campus police and safety offi¬
cial said.
No one was injured in the inci¬
dent thaL occurred around the
, CSC campus, located at 325 South
Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena.
During a three minute car chase,
the suspect fired into the air and
taunted his pursuers by making faces,
police said.
The chase ended when the 17-
year-oldsuspecL.ranhis 1979 Cadil¬
lac into a clump of bushes on the
comer of California Avenue and
Arden Road, police said
Police recovered a .38 revolver with six spent shells at the scene.
The suspect, who police said is a student attending classes at CSC, was
arrested and charged with attempted murder and negligent discharge of
a fire arm.
Because he is a minor, his identity was not released.
Russian tells of war, terror
By TOM SNYDER
Special Correspondent
A Russian psychiatrist described
the trauma that victims of the 1988
Armenian War and earthquake en¬
dured in a speech last Thursday,
describing tragic personal losses
and psychological horrors.
Dr. Mikhail Yerish, crisis spe¬
cialist from the Bechterev Psychoneu¬
rological Institute in St. Petersburg,
Russia, has returned to the stricken
country six times to counsel Arme¬
nian survivors seeking help.
Yerish, who spoke to students
through an interpreter, said that if he
could sum up the Armenian situ¬
ation at that time in one word, it
would be “hopeless.”
Slides he took in 1988 of the war
tom area showed rigid Soviet troops
guarding Armenian citizens who were
forced to live in deplorable condi¬
tions.
The pictures showed a tent city
amidst rubble and bomb debris that
had been without water and electric¬
ity for two months.
Yerish pointed out gaping holes
in the tops of the tents, burned there
as a result of fires people lit to sur¬
vive the freezing winter.
The Russian psychiatrist also de-
Please see “RUSSIA, ’’page 5
Since 1988, Armenia has remained
in the grips of a bitter season of
war and natural disasters.