Serving PCC and the Pasadena community since 1915
April 6, 2006 pcc-courieronline.com Vol. 93, Issue 7
Kris Calnon
/
Courier
All Rain, No Shine: The ongoing rain falling on campus can be a nuisance to stu¬
dents running from class to class.
Kate Murray
Editor-in-Chief
Tomorrow the Philosopher-
Citizen Institute will hold its first
annual scholar’s colloquium, titled
“The Profound Challenges Facing
Citizen-Thinkers: How ‘Civic
Philosophy’ Can Help Them.”
The colloquium will be led by Dr.
John Roth, professor of philosophy,
and Dr. James Nichols, professor of
political science, both from
Claremont McKenna College. As the
topic of the discussion, Nichols will
pose the following question: “What
are our ethical obligations, if any, to
our fellow human beings around the
world?” Five additional guest speak¬
ers will make brief presentations as
well. Audience members will be invit¬
ed to join the discussion by asking
questions or commenting on the topic
at hand.
“The purpose of this is to improve
the quality of citizen decision-making
in America,” said Melissa Rudberg,
assistant to Dr. Linda Handelman,
director of the institute and PCC pro¬
fessor of philosophy.
The colloquium will be held from
2-7 p.m. in the Creveling Lounge. The
colloquium will be followed by a
workshop on April 14 from 7-9 p.m.
in the Circadian Lounge. This work¬
shop will feature Handelman and
Mayor
ВШ
Boggard. Both events are
free to the public; however, it is sug¬
gested that each attendee make a
donation ranging from five to 10 dol¬
lars.
For more information about this
event or the institute in general, con¬
tact Handelman at (626) 585-7406, e-
mail the institute at philosopher_citi-
zen@hotmail.com or visit its website
at www.pasadena.edu/phil-cit.
Dangers of Spring Break Loom Ahead
freedoms.”
Bickley continued on to say that
-occasional use is not the problem; it is
the people that make over a 1 ,000 hits
in a two-week period that would raise
a red flag.
“What we are really asking for is to
stop monitoring altogether,” Bickley
said.
Senate members said they sent out
a statement of support petition asking
each division on campus to circulate
it, gathering signatures opposing the
monitoring. The petition might be
used as part of the senate’s argument
against monitoring. However, mem¬
bers said they have to wait until all the
signatures are counted.
“What is really transpiring at
tonight’s board meeting is that we are
putting forth an argument,” Bickley
said. “By having the administration
monitor Internet use, the district
would think that we do not have
enough trust to monitor ourselves.”
Meagan Clements
Staff Writer
Traditionally, spring break in the
United States is a time when a signif¬
icant number of college students let
loose, use alcohol excessively and
partake in unprotected sex.
During the one-week break in the
school calendar, approximately 1 mil¬
lion U.S. students participate in some
form of spring break vacation.
Traveling to vacation destinations
such as Mexico, Florida, Canada and
Hawaii, thousands of college stu¬
dents are eager and excited for a week
of debauchery.
Binge drinking is one of the fore¬
most problems at spring break hot
spots. According to the Pub Med
National Library of Medicine web¬
site, 442 women and 341 men were
surveyed at Panama City Beach,
Florida to assess travel motivation on
alcohol consumption and binge
drinking during spring break. The
mean number of drinks per day was
photo iUusration by Stephner White
/
Courier
Be Prepared: Students can educate themselves about the
dangers of spring break to ward off potential mishaps.
18 for men and 10 for women.
Ninety-two percent of the men and
78 percent of women had participat¬
ed in a binge-drinking episode.
Students were motivated to visit that
specific destination because of its
“party” reputation and consumed
more alcohol than students who cited
other reasons for going there.
Binge drinking, besides being dan¬
gerous from a health standpoint, can
lead to blackouts, arrests, drug use
and even violations of universities’
codes of behavior, which could result
in expulsion. Students have placed
pictures of drinking contests onto
websites such as MySpace, where
college officials monitoring the web¬
sites were able to identify the students
engaging in such activities.
Another negative aspect of spring
break is the participation in casual or
unprotected sex. According to the
Pub Med website, the key elements of
a spring break vacation include:
friends, traveling together, a perpetual
party atmosphere, excessive alcohol
consumption and sexually suggestive
contests.
Combined with the permissive
environment, peer influences and
heavy drinking, unprotected sex is
more likely to take place.
Unprotected sex (usually with a casu¬
al partner during the spring break
period) can lead to a number of
STDs, unplanned pregnancies and
AIDS.
“It’s kind of hard to think of the
consequences when everyone is just
raising hell and having a good time,”
said student Patrick Clemon.
Students can still enjoy them¬
selves during spring break, but they
should remember that it is a time to
relax, not to return to school with the
added stress of the consequences of
your actions.
Latino Committee
Offers Scholarship
Don Martirez
Opinion Editor
The Latino Advisory
Committee has four $1,000 scholar¬
ships available for qualified PCC
students.
Students applying must be U.S.
citizens or eligible non-citizens and
have completed at least 12 cumula¬
tive units at PCC by the end of win¬
ter 2006. They also must have taken
a minimum of 12 units per semes¬
ter, have at least a 2.5 GPA, demon¬
strate financial need and have dis¬
played how their career goals will
positively affect the Latino commu¬
nity. They also must have been
involved in extracurricular or com¬
munity activities.
To be considered for a scholar¬
ship, applicants must enclose an
official copy of their transcript (aca¬
demic work completed only at
PCC), write a personal statement of
purpose, complete financial infor¬
mation in the application and
enclose two letters of recommenda¬
tions. Incomplete or late applica¬
tions will be disqualified.
These scholarships are not lim¬
ited to those with a Latino back¬
ground; anyone can apply.
Completed and signed applica¬
tions are due by April 23 in the
financial aid and scholarship office
in LI 14. Applications will be
reviewed by members of the LAC
Scholarship Committee. Students
selected to receive an award will be
notified by the beginning of May.
Applications are available in the
Financial Aid and Scholarship
Office.
April Showers
Orlando Pina
/
Courier
Remembrance: Members of Students for Social Justice and a small group of student attendees gathered by the Mirror
Pools on Thursday to share their thoughts on the war in Iraq during a memorial held for those fallen.
Christina Bustamante
Staff Writer
Although the messages were
powerful, the low student turnout
at the memorial for fallen Iraq sol¬
diers put on Thursday by Students
for Social Justice did not reflect
campus concern over the military
draft, which could come at any
time. SSJ members were in atten¬
dance, as well as a few spectators,
but most onlookers just passed by
the demonstration. This was a
chance for students and staff to
come out and speak out against the
war, but only a handful of people
came out in support of the event.
“[There are] over 28,000 stu¬
dents here on campus,” said Jane
Hallinger, an English professor.
“With the amount that showed up
today to show their support, it
doesn’t look good. Students need
to know that at a snap of a finger a
draft can happen at anytime.”
Over 2,300 American soldiers
were remembered at the event.
Stakes with white ribbons were
placed in the-ground alongside the
Mirror Pools, each ribbon repre¬
senting an American or allied sol¬
dier that has died since the war
began. This memorial would have
had to be 60 times larger to repre¬
sent the Iraqi deaths as well.
“The evolution of the anti-war
movement has to become an anti¬
imperialism movement for this war
to end,” said Jasmine Delgado, 24,
a member of the SSJ.
SSJ initiated this event after
finding reports that Iraq had noth¬
ing to do with
9/11,
had no
weapons of mass destruction and
had no link to the terrorists.
Members of SSJ found out that
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfield, Vice President Dick
Cheney and others planned the
invasion of Iraq long before
9/11.
These officials are known as mem¬
bers of “The Project For a New
American Century.’”
The cost of Iraq is about $4.5
billion a month, $6 million an
hour. More money is still being
requested from the Pentagon,
expected to reach a trillion dollars.
“I really appreciate all the work
that was put into this event,” said
English professor Jill O’Hora.
“The display itself just speaks vol¬
umes.”
In addition to the stakes repre¬
senting the soldiers, posters of
quotes were also displayed along
the edge of the grass. One of these
read, “We don’t do body counts,”
spoken by General Tommy Franks
in regards to the number of Iraqi
deaths that have taken place since
this war has started.
“I hope it doesn’t take a draft
for college students to wake up and
realize this is real,” said SSJ mem¬
ber Rob Machulla, 21 . “ Let’s hope
this war ends and - a hope for
mankind is revived.”
Faculty
Under
Watch
Dean Lee
News Editor
After recent talks broke down
between campus president Dr. James
Kossler and faculty members, the aca¬
demic senate asked that the issue of
Internet monitoring be placed on last
night’s board of trustee meeting agen¬
da.
“The issue is, how do we enforce
that policy?” Kossler said. “Some
would say that we should just trust
that people will do the right thing.”
At press time, faculty members
filled all the chairs and lined the walls
to show their support for stopping
administrators monitoring faculty
computers.
Academic senate president Kay
Dabelow said Kossler had verbally
agreed last year to a six-month mora¬
torium while the situation was
reviewed. That time is now up.
“What we’re objecting to is moni¬
toring for content,” said Dan Haley,
member of the faculty technology
committee. “The faculty understands
that monitoring our Internet connec¬
tions to make sure that everything is
running correctly is necessary. We’re
objecting to the president of the col¬
lege deciding what we should or
should not see on the Internet.”
Academic senate vice president
James Bickley said the practice of rou¬
tine faculty Internet monitoring is an
infringement of academic freedom.
“Teachers of human sexuality
might want to use pornography sites
in their lectures about the porn indus¬
try,” Bickley said. “There is no ques¬
tion that this interferes with academic
Philosophy Forum
Offered to Students
Memorial Fails to Draw Students
Low student
turnout at the
Students For Social
Justice Iraq
Memorial proved
disheartening.