Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
Vol. 75 No. 8
COURIER
Serving the PCC Community for 75 years
Thursday
April 8, 1993
Selection process draws protest
□ Search for social
sciences chair sparks
faculty protest about
unbalanced powers.
By ALFREDO SANTANA
News Editor
In what has become a heated is¬
sue between administrators and fac¬
ulty, social science professors are
strongly backing a motion to change
the way the final selection process
stage for their department chairper¬
son will be made.
Social science instructors are
pushing for the adoption of a new
chairperson selection policy where
they would be able to add more
faculty members to the two screen¬
ing level committees to pick the
department chairperson.
Whenever any of the 12 aca¬
demic department chair positions
are vacant, two selection commit¬
tees are formed. The first level com¬
mittee is made up of four college ad¬
ministrators and three faculty mem¬
bers representating their department.
They screen applications submitted
by candidates for the position.
The first level in the chairman
selection process serves to narrow
the pool of applicants. Once they
choose the best candidates, the
applicants go to a second screening.
Once there, a panel composed of
only college administrators decides
what candidate will fill the chair va¬
cancy.
In this case, social science in¬
structors are urging the administra¬
tion to change the faculty majority
chair-selection policy. They want a
faculty majority in the first selec¬
tion level of the process. They are
also seeking two faculty seats in the
second level interview.
Gary Woods, CTA/PCC chapter
president, said this organization
supports the changes social science
instructors are looking for.
“We believe there should be a
majority of faculty at the first level,
and we believe there should be two
people from the faculty at the sec¬
ond level,” Woods said.
Although Chrystal Watson, Fac¬
ulty Senate president could not be
reached for comment, she has previ¬
ously stated the group she heads
“unanimously” supports the social
science faculty stand on this issue.
Dr. David Ledbetter, assistant
superintendent of instructional serv¬
ices, said state laws regarding selec¬
tion of a community college chair¬
person do not set specific guide¬
lines in this matter.
“It’s up to the colleges to decide
how they are going to use the law.
That’s what we have been doing,”
he said.
The law, widely known as A
В
1725, allows each individual com¬
munity college district to set gov¬
erning policies within their districts
according to their needs. Under this
law, “governing boards of each com¬
munity college district shall estab¬
lish procedures to ensure faculty,
See “SOCIAL SCIENCES,” pg.6
The Situation
The retirement of social
sciences chairman
Kennon Meidema has
sparked a protest
between faculty and
administration about
the selection process
for his replacement.
David Ledbetter,
assistant
superintendent of
instructional
services, said PCC is
following the rules.
Faculty Senate
president Chrystal
Watson has said
she supports the
faculty stand.
Photos by OSCAR CHAVEZ/ IRC. Infographic by ANISSA C. VICENTE
A reflective discovery
AND WHO ARE YOU?
A Date with Dinah, a two-
year old colt, stands on
wobbly legs and studies her
reflection in a puddle at the
Cal State Fresno campus.
Staff writer and chief
photographer Katrina P.
Ten captured the moment
while attending the
Journalism Association of
Community Colleges state
conference last weekend.
Please see related stories
on page 4 and 5.
More loans up for grabs
Tax time
help for
students
By MERISSA GOODRICH
Staff Writer
Thursday, April 15 is nearly
upon us and for many students, this
is a time of stress and anxiety as they
hurriedly fill out tax forms and mail
them before the deadline.
A hint to students who have yet to
file their taxes, get the forms now.
Last year post offices and libraries
ran out of the tax forms by April 15.
Last year, scalpers sold them on the
street for $25 to $50 so tax advisers
suggest getting the forms early.
The easiest tax form for students
is the 1040EZ. This form can be
used if the filing status is single, the
taxpayer is under 65, does not claim
any dependents, has a taxable in¬
come of less than $50,000 and made
only wages, salaries, tips, and tax¬
able scholarship or fellowship grants.
If a student is self-employed, he
must use another form.
If a student
was a nonresi¬
dent alien at any
time during
1992, and his to¬
tal wages did
not exceed
$55,500, he
must also use
another tax form. If a student does
not meet all these requirements, he
must use form 1040A or form 1040.
Late forms will be charged inter¬
ests and penalities by the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS). The penalty
is usually five percent of the amount
due for each month the return is
delayed unless a reasonable expla¬
nation is submitted. If students should
need more time to work on their
taxes, they can file for an automatic
four-month extension using form
4868. The IRS should receive this
form before April 15.
Students are cautioned to make
sure their name and social security
number match their social security
card. If there is anything wrong with
either of these, the IRS will have
trouble recording the taxes paid.
If a student’s name or number is
wrong on his social security card,
call the Social Security Administra¬
tion toll free at 1-800-772-1213. If a
student has having trouble filling
out tax forms or has any questions,
the IRS has installed a toll free refer¬
ence number, 1-800-829-1040.
□ Washington
Commission
mandates more
federal aid for college
student in state
universities.
By MERISSA GOODRICH
Staff Writer
All college students should be
eligible for up to $14,000 in federal
aid, according to the findings of a
congressionally-mandated commis¬
sion. Family income is not a factor
in receiving the financial aid.
The federal government loses $3
billion a year in defaulted student
loans due to complications in the
financial aid programs and overex¬
tended families.
A report from The National
Commission on Responsiblities for
Financing Postsecondary Education
issued a report in February recom¬
ending the federal government spend
an additional $ 7 billion a year to
help students pay for college. The
proposal recommends a program
without the problems in getting back
the money. The proposal would
roughly double the size of Pell grants
but it is unclear as to where the
money would come form.
The commission’s proposal is
called the Student’s Total Education
Package (STEP). According to an
article in “The Chronicle of Higher
Education,” it would make $14,000
available to each student relative to
the student’s cost for attending a
four-year college.
PCC students will only be eli¬
gible for the aid when they transfer
to a four-year college or university.
The cost of college exceeding the
$14,000 can be covered by state fi¬
nancial aid, bank loans, and schol¬
arships, the report said.
According to the plan, lower in¬
come students would receive a
combination of Pell grants, work
study and subsidised loans, that is,
loans requiring no collateral. Stu¬
dents from higher income families
would receive mostly unsubsidized
loans.
“It is premature to say anything
that might alarm students and their
families aboutsome dramatic offer¬
ing that would substantially change
their circumstances,” said Dan Parker,
a spokesman for the Student Aid
Commission. “No matter who pro¬
poses a plan for increasing financial
aid the second question is always
going to be, “What’s the cost?”’
PCC football
player shot
20-year-old student killed
in suspected gang incident;
police have no suspects
By ALFREDO SANTANA
News Editor
Travis Copeland, a 20-year-old
student who played for the football
team last year , was shot to death in
what police believe is a gang re¬
lated incident.
Copeland, a freshman running
back who came to PCC from Mari¬
etta High School, sustained several
gun shot wounds after he walked
away from a group of men who
were fighting, said detective Todd
Peterson of the Pasadena Police
Department.
Copeland was gunned down at
8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 31
in the 2000 block of Summit Ave¬
nue in Altadena.
He died at Huntington Memo¬
rial Hospital 30 minutes after the
shooting.
“He died of multiple gunshots
[received] after he was walking
away from a group of individuals,”
Peterson said. “We think it was a
gang retaliation of some sort.”
No arrests have been made in
connection with the case.
Peterson said Pasadena police
are having a difficult time trying to
find anything that could lead them to
the arrest of a suspect in the crime.
“We have had to put up with a lot
of very uncooperative witnesses in
the area,” Peterson said.
Dennis Gossard, PCC’s head
football coach, said this is the first
time in his six-year career as coach
that the team has lost a member
under such conditions.
The slaying occurred two years
after two football players were stabbed
in an altercation during a party or¬
ganized by PCC football players.
A member of the football team
who asked not to be identified, said
Lancer coaches and players “fear
this incident will negatively affect
the football program.”
Copeland wore jersey number
29 in the Lancers uniform.
Funeral services for Copeland will
be held today at 2p.m. atTurner and
Stevens Mortuary, Live Oaks Me¬
morial Park at 200 E. Duarte Rd. in
Monrovia.
New telephone registration
system testing continues
Stuart Wilcox, dean of admissions and
records, is inviting students to test the new
30-line phone registration system which
will be operational in the summer.
However, students should first obtain
their permit to register in D200. They may
call (818) 577-6100 with their completed
program. After the test period, which runs
through Friday, April 30, the computer will
be turned off until students begin
for the summer session on May 10. Five
white telephones will also be installed in
the C Building connected directly to the
new system.
Stuart Wilcox