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.