PCC Courier, April 02, 1992

OPINION 1 FEATURES | SPORTS Brain dead Should courts decide when organs should be donated? Page 2 Art of surprise FT^’%lT Ceramist Paul Soldner fashions lifeless f ipQ clay into animated art. Page 5 ^ Softball Lancers lose to Dutch national team. Page 6 Pasadena City College Pasadena, California Vol. 74 No. 22 COURIER Thursday April 2,1992 Trustees approve plans for new parking structure l— I As part of the college’s master plan for the ‘90s, the Board of Trustees approved plans to create architectural drawings for a new campus parking garage, at its last meeting. By EDWIN FOLVEN Editor-in-Chief The Board of Trustees approved a plan at its last meeting to have blueprints drawn for a five level parking garage on campus. The approval of the structure, which is part of the college’s master plan to renovate the campus, is a serious attempt to resolve the present pres¬ ent parking lot congestion that oc¬ curs daily. The garage will be built on the south side of the campus where the baseball diamond was previously located. The site is currently parking lot 14. According to Dr. James Kossler, assistant superintendent of administrative services, the struc¬ ture will provide approximately 2,000 parking spaces for students, nearly doubling the number currently avail¬ able. “I think the most serious concern from students is the lack of parking on campus. This will be the first major step in years that the college has been able to take to answer that concern,” said Kossler. He added that upon approval, construction will begin sometime next year after the new library is completed. The li¬ brary site will have a parking lot that should help alleviate congestion caused by the closure of lot 14. The structure will include a de¬ sign that will use space efficiently and will be aesthetically pleasing. Designers will be able to take advan¬ tage of a natural depression in the ground at lot 14 that will conceal two levels of the garage. Scissor- like ramps will give autos access inside the structure. These ramps connect levels in the same fashion two flights of stairs give access be¬ tween floors of a building. These ramps accommodate more parking spaces than those that gradually slope upward level by level. The scissor ramps will slope gradually enough to accommodate parking on them. The flat floor design will increase visibility and safety inside the struc¬ ture. Planners will design the facility to be completely accessible on three levels. The first level will have an entrance/exit facing Del Mar Ave¬ nue. The structure’s west side will be connected to lot 3. A gradually sloping grade in the surface will enable access to the parking struc¬ ture’s second level at the south end of the parking lot. At the north end an entrance to the third level is planned. ‘The more entrances you have, the better the circulation (of cars) inside the structure,” said Kossler. According to the college’s mas¬ ter plan, the garage will serve as a new entrance to the campus. It will be located next to a proposed new physical education facility and will provide parking for sporting events. A well lighted pedestrian plaza will connect the garage to the rest of the campus. It will have both stairs and elevators inside and will be fully handicapped-accessible. Kossler said the cost of the new structure will cause administration members to review and perhaps al¬ ter the parking permit policy. The current $20 fee for day use, $10 for night use may be increased. He said a committee will be formed with members from all aspects of the college community in the near fu¬ ture to determine what changes need to be made. Kossler said it may be necessary to lease another off cam¬ pus parking lot and run a shuttle service to the campus while con¬ struction is underway. Approximately 320 parking spaces will be lost dur¬ ing that period. Internal Parking Design, Inc., has been contracted to design the struc¬ ture. They will create working draw¬ ings and an official estimate for the construction costs. Kossler declined to give a dollar figure at this point because planning is still in prelimi¬ nary stages. However, he did com¬ ment that the state will not fund parking facilities. “We have been putting money away in the capital outlay fund in preparation for the structure. After the plans are com¬ plete, I will be able to structure a Please see Garage: Page 4 Scholar speaks about love for the English language This year’s visiting scholar lectures about poetry, politics and women’s issues By CHRIS CATHCART Staff Writer As part of an annual series, PCC’s social sciences department welcomed Dr. Susanne Woods as this year’s visiting scholar. The visiting scholar program invites well noted scholars to the school to speak on various topics in their field of expertise. Woods gave three different lectures, the first tided “Poetry and Politics,” Tues¬ day, March 24. After being introduced by Dr. Jack Scott, superintendent-presi¬ dent, Woods expressed what an honor it was to visit PCC. She explained that it felt like a home¬ coming. “I have lived in Pasad¬ ena during summers when I was doing research at the Hunungton Library,” said Woods. “I also did my undergraduate work at UCLA.” With a warm smile, Woods asked forgiveness if her remarks were too personal, but she ex¬ plained that poetry and politics have been the two great passions in her life. “As a teen-ager, I was a closet poet, and I wrote terrible poetry,” she laughed. “Also poli¬ tics fascinated me.” As a teen¬ ager, she felt a conflict of inter¬ ests. She believed what she had been taught. “Poetry is the per¬ sonal knowledge of beauty, felt along a personal pulse,” said Woods. “Politics is the study of people together: how power is structured to make life better. It is a public thing.” Woods studied political sci¬ ence at UCLA, because she be¬ lieved that it was, as she put it,” a real career.” But she chose poetry Photo by Carlo Bacor/The COURIER Dr. Susanne Woods, social science department visiting scholar, lectures about freedom and humanities to a capacity crowd last week. over politics. “I saw poetry and poli¬ tics as close kin,” said Woods. Re¬ flecting on Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Woods saw how poetry and politics mix. “Dr. King used metaphors, and Psalms, to speak political ideas.” Showing how politicians use poetry, Woods then explained how poets write about political ideas. “Defining what it is to be human, whether it is yourself or other people, is the common idea of poetry and politics,” said Woods. Citing Ten¬ nyson ’ s “In Memoriam IV” and John Milton’s “To My Lord Fairfax” as examples, she showed how poetry is a vehicle to understanding the hu¬ man condition. “Poetry seeks to effect change. Upraises the good and defines it, and it blames the bad and defines it.” Laughingly she said, “Plato said that if he Please see Scholar: Page 4 Lecture focuses on liberty and humanities By DANIELLE POTOCIK Staff Writer Dr. Susanne Woods, visiting scholar, spoke to a capacity crowd in the C Building, about Humanities and Freedom on Wednesday, March 25. Woods began the lecture by dis¬ cussing academic freedom. She defined academic freedom as the freedom to ask any questions, and to be able to debate them in an open and safe environment. She explained further, “If political debates about freedom focus on choice and flexi¬ bility, then our schools, colleges and universities have a time honored obligation to make that choice knowl¬ edgeable and to be a place where all questions can be asked.” Woods also delved into the his¬ tory of “freedom,” when the word had different connotations for the citizen and the slave. “In its broad¬ est sense freedom is historically the citizen’s freedom of movement and ability to make knowledgeable deci¬ sions, as opposed to the slaves con¬ finement to their master’s land and his condition of ignorant servility,” explained Woods. Humanities, the second topic of discussion, was defined by Woods as, “All of the studies that help to define what it means to be hu¬ man.” She included all social sciences, as well as literature, art, and philosophy. “Knowl¬ edge is represented by my broad definition of the humanities, and knowledge frees us from narrow points of view and stubbornly held prejudices,” Woods said. Library pioneers the use of information access system □ The library is using a computer software program that enables more computers to access data bases all over the country. BY ENRICO PIAZZA Staff Writer PCC has been designated as a test site for the use of the network ca¬ pable version of the Online Catalog¬ ing Library Center (OCLC), a com¬ puterized library service that pro¬ vides access to more than 13,000 libraries in 46 different countries. OCLC offers computer support serv¬ ices for cataloging, acquisition, and interlibrary loans. Until now, only two computers available to library staff, were able to share information with the data base. This made it difficult for teach¬ ers of the library classes to utilize the system. The need to have more computers capable of accessing the OCLC data base prompted Mary Ann Laun, an assistant professor of li¬ brary services, to consult the In¬ structional Computer Center (ICC). Rob Tirapelle, a programmer analyst for ICC, then contacted the systems manufacturer and obtained permission to use the “network ca¬ pable” version of the program, that is not yet available to the general public. According to Tirapelle, until now, the valuable services offered by OCLC were only available to those computers physically attached to a modem, a computer networking tool. To communicate with Ohio, where the OCLC is based, a dependable communication line was also needed. With the network capable ver¬ sion of the program that is now avail¬ able to the college, all machines connected to the network will be able to access the data base, with only one computer physically at¬ tached to a modem. “It’s a lot cheaper this way,” explained Tirapelle. “It serves precisely the need of the li¬ brary classes.” What Laun had in mind, in fact, was the ability to provide all of her students with training on the same software that they’ll be using in their future work places. “It provides hands-on experience with the largest bibliographic data base in the world,” said Laun. She added that the experience will in¬ crease the students’ marketability. According to Dr. David R. Dow¬ ell, library director, when the new library is finished, the use of the OCLC network services will be expanded to all of the computers in the library and will be available to all of its patrons. It will enable all PCC students will be able to access more than 25 million titles. PCC has been a subscriber to OCLC, a non-profit organization, since 1978. Beside the ability to share resources between libraries, a major advantage of having a compu¬ terized library network is the reduc¬ tion in cataloging costs. The library’s catalog was completely converted to an automated system in January 1989. The obsolete printed card cata¬ log is no longer up to date. According to a spokesperson from OCLC, the program, called “Pass¬ port,” was made available in the “network capable” versions to only 25 colleges in the United States. New food court area planned By AL SANTANA Staff Writer The Food Service Committee announced that renovation of the food service area located in the cafe¬ teria will begin by May 18. The announcement came at a food serv¬ ices committee meeting held last Friday. Dr. Alvar L. Kauti, associate dean of students activities, said that the renovation will cost $302,000. The money will be allotted from the Flea Market, District and AS accounts. The eight-member committee disclosed that the new food court will be ready by September 14, the first day of the fall semester. “It’s a peak time for its use,” Kauti ac¬ knowledged. He also revealed that the ordering of new equipment has already begun. The new food court will have a larger salad bar and a special Asian food area. A wide variety of Mexi¬ can food will be available , as well as fine bakery products, all of which will be complemented with a “grab and go” section. Nine employees will be required during peak hours. Under the new project, the cur¬ rent Mini-Mart, which is adjacent to the food court, will become a modi¬ fied cafeteria, and all other campus food service areas will be function¬ ing while construction is underway. The kitchen in the food area will remain in the same place. Robert McBride, evening cashier in the food area, said renovating the current installations will “improve the face of the college and in the same way will serve students bet¬ ter.” McBride stressed that food court items will be specifically cooked to meet quality standards set by the college. He added, “We care about students.” Currently, the food service area makes up 90.5 percent of the total food services sales within the cam¬ pus. The Trolley, a small food place located by the U Building, is ex¬ pected to increase its revenues when the new library is finished. A new plaza with outdoor tables will be constructed between the library and the C Building and will attract students to have breakfast and lunch. PCC is surrounded by 10 fast- food restaurants, all of them located less than three blocks away from the campus, making the food business very competitive. Please see Food: Page 4 it