PCC Courier, April 09, 1992

OPINION FEATURES SPORTS Perot Can an independent candidate get support for the election?* Page 2 Ethnicity Latinos on campus struggle to find common ground. Page 5 Softball Lancers lose 3-2 in 10 innings at 1 Long Beach. Page 6 Pasadena City College Pasadena, California Vol. 74 No. 23 COURIER Thursday April 9, 1992 Guo Fuchang, head of the Chinese delegation, shakes hands with Barbara Dr.David Ledbetter, left, escorts delegation members on a Wang, student trustee, at a reception held in Creveling Lounge yesterday, tour of the campus that visited physics and art classes. Education delegation surveys campus AS leader resigns amid controversy □ Maggie Tracey, AS president, resigned last week because of a general lack of support from other board members, only two months before the end of her term. By CHRIS CATHCART By EDWIN FOLVEN Editor-in-Chief A delegation of educators from China visited the campus on Wednesday in order to gain per¬ sonal insight into the American community college system. PCC was the first slop for the 18 member delegation on a tour that will review community college programs across the country. The delegates visited PCC to see for themselves how the col¬ lege operates. “We arc really honored to have them. They were able to learn firsthand about our college,” said Dr. Sally Huguley, the president’s assistant and co¬ ordinator of the delegation’s visit. They toured the campus and vis¬ ited some classes, giving them an opportunity to see exactly how things are. Barbara Wang, stu¬ dent trustee, translated for some members because only seven members speak English. The group, which is headed by Guo Fuchang, director of the Chi¬ nese department of education for ethnic nationalities for the State Education Commission, consists of university presidents, vice presidents and members of educational com¬ missions in China. PCC is the only school in the Los Angeles area vis¬ ited by the delegation. They are vis¬ iting Palomar Community College in San Diego today. After their arrival on Tuesday afternoon, the educators were given an informal introduction to some administrators and faculty members at PCC. Eight faculty members and administrators and one member of the community provided lodging Tuesday night for most of the dele¬ gation. Private accommodations were made to give them further insight into the lives of American families. “We got a warm reception from the college as well as the executive members. The arrangements gave us a chance to further experience American lifestyles,” said Fuchang. “Opening their homes was a real gracious gesture and I think the guests appreciated it,” said Huguley. Delegation members were very interested in learning how the col¬ lege interacts with the community and how programs are structured and funded. Fuchang said, “We arc learning from experience to de¬ velop the two year colleges in our country. We learned many things about the college. Most importantly, we learned how the college serves the community and the basis of how the programs are designed.” Dr. Jack Scott, president-super¬ intendent, said the delegation’s visit is much like a trip he and 15 commu¬ nity college presidents took to China last summer to review their college system. He said two-year colleges in China are more like four-year uni¬ versities than the American versions. Many are primarily vocational, not offering a transfer option. Fuchang said, “Students at two-year colleges in China make up one third of the total enrollment in institutions of higher learning.” Members of the delegation were given a tour of some classes. They visited the E Building, where Dr. Bruce Carter, chairman of the physical sciences department, explained about the college’s seismograph and how the physics department operates. After the tour, a public recep¬ tion was held to give members of the community a chance to ask questions and visit with the dele¬ gation members. Samuel Kiang, mayor of Monterey Park said, “There is no doubt about the dif¬ ferences between our systems. Only through education will we see this gradually change.” Wang also commented on the impor¬ tance of the visit. “ I think it was a great experience and I hope they were able to learn many things from our college that will benefit their students.” Staff Writer Maggie Tracey, associated stu¬ dent president, resigned from her position on Wednesday, April 1. She cited what she called,” a series of events,” which led to her deci¬ sion. “I’ve done all that I can do.” Tracey formally resigned in a letter to Alvar Kauti, associate dean of student ac¬ tivities. Her resigna¬ tion came while four members of the AS board, and the faculty adviser Re¬ becca Cobb- Bailey, werein New Orleans for a conference on student gov¬ ernment. They were notified by phone. The AS board has had a rough year, al¬ ready losing vice president Jorge Conejo to resignation in De¬ cember, and coordinator of student affairs Katherine Wolf through dis¬ missal. Karen Koche, who replaced Conejo, will now fill the seat left by Tracey. “My resignation is a combination of a lot of things,” said Tracey. “When we took office in September, I asked Dean Kauti several times for help in planning a group dynamics session or a retreat, something to bring us together. Our adviser was new, and I thought it was a great opportunity to come together and set some goals, but it never came about. There were tensions all year.” Tracey says that a major reason for her resignation was the AS’s decision to send David Osorio, vice president of external affairs, to the next California Students Associa¬ tion of Colleges, (CALSAC) meet¬ ing- a decision she said was made without her participa¬ tion. “They left me a letter be¬ fore they left for New Or¬ leans,” said Tracey. “I wanted to at¬ tend that CAL¬ SAC meeting. CALSAC only recognizes presidents of the student body, or a rep- resentati vc sent by the president. CALSAC must approve the representative. They had no right to tell me who should be sent.” The memo from the AS board showed that Osorio would have a vote, ac¬ cording to the constituion. It also asked Tracey to review the section of the constitution pertaining to this matter, and then decide who should go to the meeting. Tracey leaves behind a troubled AS. Aside from the lack of cohesion all year, there was some controversy Please see Tracey: Page 6 Maggie Tracey, former AS president KPCC holds semi-annual drive Future of AS board uncertain Student government struggles with lack of leadership By AL SANTANA Staff Writer As KPCC 89.3 FM entered its spring pledge drive last week, directors used a new approach to interest its listeners. The official four-day pledge drive format, suc¬ cessfully raised $83,000 from radio listeners last Thursday through Sun¬ day. According to Kaye Adler, devel¬ opment director of KPCC, the growth of the station in the last three years of pledge taking determined a change in the structure of the fund-raising program, which now depends more on pledges through the mail. “We wanted to make it easier for them to become members. We wanted to remind listeners that we are pub¬ lic radio, that we need their eco¬ nomic support. The reason we can keep the station commercial free is the public contributions . One way to assure contributions is by using our mailing list of members.” Adler said. However, contributions from new members still play an impor¬ tant role in the future of the station. Figures released by KPCC officials show that more than 60 percent of the subscribers were reached through station programming. Adler mentioned that the results of the last pledge drive may have been affected by the ailing state of the economy, but the recession it¬ self, “didn’t determin that this was going to be a small drive.” KPCC’s new approach resulted in therenewal of 638 of its members, who, added to 970 new subscribers, totals 1608 current contributors. During the drive’s four days, KPCC took in considerably more than the $72,000 that had been anticipated, but less than $197,000 thatthedrive’s 1 1 days garnered last November. This year’s average individual pledge was $44.77. More than 100 volunteers partici¬ pated in the pledge drive, 60 of whom were telecommunications students. Saturday morning the station signed up 93 members and raised $4000 during the airing of “Car Talk,” which generated the largest amount of money raised during the drive. “Car Talk,” a program containing a mix¬ ture of ironic humor to advise motorists about the most common car problems, is aired Saturdays and Sundays at 8 a.m. Student John Biedebach pledged money because, “I support what they stand for. I’m happy public radio stations like KPCC are not restricted by sponsors, because sponsors can help radio managers decide what kind of programs and music to air.” Overall, the station officials defined the pledge drive as “very successful.” Adler said, “During the pledge, the critical element is having the most people listening at any one time, to get the broadest possible audience.” She added, “After all, the main goal of the drive is to raise money.” By CHRIS CATHCART Staff Writer The associated students execu¬ tive board has had plenty of tur¬ moil this semester. The recent resignation of the president Maggie Tracey has put an exclamation point on this fact. A general lack of organization, ignorance of roles and procedures have caused not only the loss of the president, but the resignation of former vice president Jorge Conejo, and the dismissal of Katherine Wolf, vice president of campus activities. A grave symbol of the disor¬ ganization is the lack of minutes to the executive board meetings. At the meetings, AS board mem¬ bers dole out money to clubs and sponsor student activities. With a budget of almost $50,000, why are there no records of how this money was allocated? Tracey says that there are no minutes to any meetings, because the board has no secretary. “We have tapes of most of the meetings, and we have roll sheets, but the minutes have never been approved,” she said. Karen Koch, now president of the AS board, believes the problem should be corrected with the addition of a new position. “We need to have an elected officer to serve as secretary,” she said. “This is the biggest mistake. I can’t go back and see what was voted on, or where money has gone. The only records we have are bank receipts.” We were ignorant. That has been a problem from the beginning. It’s not fair to the students, or me.’ Karen Koch, AS president The issue of money has also plagued the AS . Recently, our mem¬ bers of the board and the adviser .Rebecca Cobb, took a trip to New Orleans to attend a conference. The allocation of money for the trip has caused concern among some PCC students. During a board meeting on March 11, after the board had adjourned, a few members called the meeting back to order to discuss allocation of money to send a delegation to New Orleans. ‘Two members of the board had left, and I had just arrived when they called the meeting back to or¬ der,” said Tracey. The members voted to put aside $3,700 for the trip, and to send four members. Calling an adjourned meeting back to order to allocate funds has caused a stir. “It is against parlia¬ mentary procedure, but I stayed to help them through it,” said Tracey. Other board members said it was not pul on the agenda for the planned meeting, but it was forgotten , so it had to be voted on if they were to attend. “There was a written proposal,” said Tracey. Although money was initially set aside to go, the cost of the trip quickly escalated. “The trip ended up costing S5,500,” said Tracey. “They guessed at the amount.” The conference account, which was set up to send AS members to conferences, had been depleted, so board members needed to pull more money out of the general fund. Getting the rest of the money to go was a comedy of errors, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Marx Brothers. On Wednesday, March 25, a vote was supposed to have been made to release more money for Please ASEB: Page 7 Aurora Aramburu, KPCC volunteer, answers a phone call from a prospective public radio supporter at the pledge drive last week.