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COURIER
Pasadena City College
Volume 103, Issue 7 "The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915.” Thursday, April 7, 2011
Track & Field
PCC hosts first
college meet
in five years
Page
11»
Budget outlook gets worse
PCC now confronts a $9.7 million cut
because tax extension talks ended.
Sara Medina
Editor-in-Chief
After weeks of preparing for a $5-million budget cut, PCC
now faces a much deeper slash but still avoids the dreaded
$16 million cut deemed the "worst-case scenario."
"I've been working on community college budgets for 16
years and I've never seen the wheels spin so frantically to
come to a resolution," said Theresa Tena, director of fiscal
Eyes on campus
policy for the Community College League of California.
"There is no way around it."
"Not only is this a tragedy for our students but it's a
tragedy for our (state's) economy," said California
Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott in a press release
on Tuesday.
The grimmer budget outlook came on March 29 when
Gov. Jerry Brown stopped talks with Republicans to
approve June's special election for tax extensions in
California. According to Interim Vice President of
Administrative Services Richard van Pelt, PCC was expect¬
ing this to happen.
"We have known for weeks that the chances of having the
Photos by Anthony Richetts/Courier
Dispatcher Justin Loncar monitors the PCC campus and alerts other officers of crimes from the Police Dispatch Room in the
Campus Police Station on Monday. Below, Shaun McDonald, cadet, observes all activities through one of many cameras on
campus.
More surveillance cameras to be installed
Chenin Burnett-Doering
Staff Writer
Aiming to make the campus a
safer place, installation of parking
lot surveillance cameras is set to
begin in the next six weeks.
According to Police Chief Peter
Michael, officials have met with
camera vendors and are getting
ready to install 180 cameras in var¬
ious locations throughout the
school's parking lots.
Currently, PCC is in the very
beginning phase of this camera
installation process, Michael said.
Cameras have already been
installed in the bookstore, and are
being monitored by police dis¬
patch. The cameras are going to be
installed in all of the parking lots
and structures, said Michael.
"We are going to place the cam¬
eras where they will best cover the
parking lots and structures,"
Michael said.
This will be a highly advanced
camera system. "The cameras are
what we call PTZs, meaning they
can pan, tilt, and zoom," Michael
said.
These smart cameras will be
able to sense motion and will alert
Continued on page 2
June special election were not good, so we started planning
for the middle scenario," said van Pelt in an e-mail. "At this
point, we expect the cut to be on the order of $9.7 million."
"Most budget watchers treat [the] breakdown of talks as
the end of the sprint for an early budget deal and the begin¬
ning of the normal summertime budget process," said Scott
Lay, president and chief executive officer of the Community
College League of California in a statement. "Whether that
process concludes under the dome of the Capitol or in con¬
junction with a November ballot will be this season's
cliffhanger."
Tena said in an interview that Brown will now be "shut-
Continued on page 10
Enforcement
of smoking
rules coming
Code of Conduct citations to start,
new law on fines being considered
Natalie Sehn Weber
Web Editor
Campus police are stepping up the enforcement of
PCC's smoking policy as early as Monday. In addi¬
tion, state legislation that will allow community col¬
leges to fine students for smoking violations, is pend¬
ing in the Legislature.
Until now, the police have had great difficulty
enforcing the policy, said Health and Safety
Committee member and Transportation Assistant
Peter Benson. They even resorted to handing out lit¬
tering tickets, but smokers continued to violate the
policy, unheeded, he said.
PCC's current smoking policy passed by the Board
of Trustees two years ago, prohibited smoking on
campus except in four designated smoking areas.
However, smokers recently began gathering in the
alley between the bookstore and the IT Building,
Benson said. The wind pushed smoke-filled air into
the IT Building's ground-floor classrooms.
"We got multiple complaints," said Benson. "It
wasn't just an odor nuisance, but people were starting
to get headaches."
As a result, the Health and Safety Committee decid¬
ed to boost enforcement by allowing the police to
write up students for violating PCC's Student Code of
Conduct, he said.
Students who disobey college policies are violating
the conduct code, according to the code's description,
and "will be subject to disciplinary action under the
Student Discipline Process Procedures."
The disciplinary process will begin when complet¬
ed Student Code of Conduct forms are sent to the
Student & Learning Services office, said Stuart
Wilcox, the department's interim vice president.
Students will be asked to appear at a meeting with
Continued on page 10
ONLINE POLL
Will any
enforcement deter
on-campus smokers?
vote at
PccCouriercow
Daniel Martinez
New Artist in
Residence makes
himself at home
Page
8»
Registration
Proposal weighed
to change priority
dates
Page
2»
April 28
Watch for the next
issue on stands
after Spring Break