OPINION
Education is on the blink in
California .
Page 2
FEATURES
Soraya Mire presents: the legend of ‘Fire Eyes,’ a
documentary film on female genital mutilation.
Page 5
SPORTS
Softball team scores four runs
in the 7th to beat Mt. SAC,
6-5.
Page 6
THE
PAS ADENACITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 80 No. 25
COURIER
Serving the Pasadena Community since 1915
THURSDAY
April 13, 1995
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Korean group
kicks off Asian
Heritage Month
Above: In traditional Korean dress, members of the Center
for Korean Youth Culture (CKYC) perform the Poong-
Mool using instrumentsthat symbolize natural phenomena
such as clouds and thunder that influence Korean
agricultural life.
Right: Hae-Ryon Chung plucks a gayagum, a stringed
instrument similar to a Japanese koto.
CKYC. sponsored by the Pasadena Korean Bible Study
club, is a cultural group that strives to implement Korean
cultural heritage as well as to create a new culture that
reflects the life-style of Korean immigrants in this society.
Asian Heritage Month, sponsored by the Cross Cultural
Center andthe Associated Students, will celebrate different
Asian cultures through April.
* '•
PHOTOS BY JOSE CORTEZ/THE COURIER
1995 STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
No candidate for
student trustee
By GILBERT RIVERA
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Given the green light by the office of
student affairs, candidates plastered the cam¬
pus with vivid flyers, posters, and political
propaganda yesterday, kicking off one-week
of campaigning for the 1995 Associated
Students (AS) and student trustee elections.
However, when students vote on the elec¬
tion days of April 19 and 20, only 17 names
for nine AS positions will appear on the
ballot. And, surprisingly, candidates for one
office will be missing: the office of student
trustee.
Last year, 25 candidates and three tickets
were vying for student gov-
emment positions, includ¬
ing four for student trustee.
Rebecca Cobb, AS adviser
since 1991, said that this
year 51 people signed up
for an AS application but
only 1 9 turned one in. None
of the applications were for
student trustee, however.
“In the four years that I
have been involved with
the elections, I’ve never
been in a situation where
we don’t have someone run¬
ning for student trustee,”
Cobb said. “I have no idea
“My question is
why aren ’t students
seeking a position
[student trustee]
that will give them
the power to make
changes or to
influence the future
of our school,”
George Battle,
student trustee
what happened. People just didn’t turn in
their applications.”
“The student trustee position can be a rare
and outstanding learning opportunity,” said
Stephen Johnson, associate dean of student
affairs. “It’s a position where students can
make a difference in terms of having a
student voice heard. I’m surprised and sorry
that the position will not be filled by a regular
election.”
Since no one has applied for the position,
the office of student affairs will follow pro¬
cedures according to the Pasadena Area
Community College District (PACCD).
Under the procedures, the newly elected AS
president will also serve as acting student
trustee for the summer intersession. The
president will continue inthatpositionfor 25
days into the 1995 fall semester. Within the
25 days, a special election to fill the position
will have to be held.
The student trustee, in addition to repre¬
senting students on the Board of Trustees,
has all the rights and privileges of other AS
Board members, but cannot vote. The stu¬
dent trustee may attend executive meetings,
receive and present materials, but may not be
included in determining the vote required to
carry any measure.
“My question is why aren’t students seek¬
ing a position that will give them the power
to make changes or to influence the future of
our school,” said George Battle, current
student trustee. “This position is far more
important than any AS executive board po-
sitionandthat’swhyitstands
alone.
“Because of the lack of
information given to students
about the available AS posi¬
tions and the whole election
process, the student trustee
post got lost in the shuffle. I
can partly be blamed for it,
but those who were respon¬
sible for the election public¬
ity should also be blamed,”
Battle added.
Johnson said that the of¬
fice of student affairs, in con¬
junction with the AS board,
““ “ is responsible for any elec¬
tion publicity. “We more than
met the requirements for the election code
within the given time and people did have the
information. We had colorful flyers put up
around campus and the banners we had were
attention grabbers. The 51 people who signed
up for an application are an indication that
the information was put out,” Johnson said.
As for the 17 candidates vying for AS
positions, nine of them will be running under
the Coalition For Action (CFA) ticket. They
include: Roldan Herrera for president
(Herrera is currently the AS executive vice-
president), Roxana Santibanez for executive
vice-president, Peter Dishchekenian for vice-
president of academic affairs (unopposed),
and Joseph Rhee for vice-president of busi-
Please see ELECT, Page 4
College formalizes
exchange program
By DANNY TAM
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Two Chinese universities have
signed agreements to begin setting
up foreign exchange programs with
PCC.
Yantai University signed last
Wednesday and Qufu
Normal University just
signed yesterday. Repre¬
sentatives fromboth cam¬
puses visited PCC to for¬
malize the agreement.
“We felt that it was
significant to have an ex¬
change program between
the two schools,” said Liu
Chang Qing, Vice Presi¬
dent of QuIuNormal Uni¬
versity.
In addition to PCC, the school has
programs set up with other colleges
in the United States.
Despite the recent break through,
professor Gregory Lee, who initi¬
ated this program admits, “Were in
the exploratory stage. At least we
have the dialogue set up.”
The next step, according to Lee,
is to start firming up the ties between
PCC and the two schools in China.
Gregory Lee
The Chinese involved in the agree¬
ment were Liu Chang Qing, Sun
Hong Guang, director of interna¬
tional exchange, and Chen Zhian,
chairman of politics and economics.
Qufu University is extremely inter¬
ested in settingup student and teacher
exchange programs, Lee said.
The Y antai Universitiy delegates
that visited last week were President
Zhang Jianyi, andSun Ye
Xiao.
The Qufu representa¬
tives not only came to
PCC to sign the agree¬
ment, but also to “get a
look at the campus,” said
Changqing. Attention
was also paid to the PCC
student life-styles.
Relations with the two
foreign schools began when Lee vis¬
ited China in 1986, 88, 92, and 94 to
teach several English workshops.
Based upon personal relationships
from the trip, Lee pursued the idea.
“It’s important to provide more
opportunity for students to get inter¬
national experience before they leave
school,” said Lee.
“No matter what job you have in
the US you’re connected to the world
whether you know it or not.”
Committee urges smoking ban
By LUZ MARIA
CASTELLANOS
COURIER STAFF WRITER
No Smoking, that all too fa¬
miliar anti-smoker phrase, has
become the battle cry in the City
of Los Angeles. Now, campus
officials are joining the fight and
are threatening to make the PCC
campus a non smoking environ¬
ment.
The Health and Safety Com¬
mittee voted unanimously last
week to approve a proposal that
would enforce a school wide ban
on smoking. The idea was
brought up when Dr. Keith
Oberlander, mathematics profes¬
sor, asked the committee if they
could enforce a measure that
would restrict smoking on the
balconies of the R building.
“Smoking is supposed to be pro¬
hibited in the buildings, but
people were smoking on the bal¬
conies, which is against school
rules,” said Oberlander.
Since AB291, implemented
Jan. 1, 1994, smoking is prohib¬
ited in all federal buildings and
smoking is allowed 5-feet away
from entrances and exits. The
committee tried to work around a
law by giving students and staff some
flexibility. But after considerable
discussion on the best method to
implement boundaries, the commit¬
tee realized that it was far too diffi¬
cult to enforce such boundaries.
Now that the smoking ban has
been approved by the committee, it
will be presented before the Execu¬
tive committee. If approved, the pro¬
posal will then go before the Board
of Trustees where the final decision
will be made.
“We’re not trying to be mean,”,
said Chuck Havard, teacher special¬
ist in the disabled student program.
“We are hoping that students and
staff will see this as an opportunity to
quit smoking, and as a result, will be
able to smell the flowers in the quad.”
Dick Moreno, the chair of the
committee who smokes, was out of
town when the committee met. How¬
ever, he said he is in accord with the
committees decision. “It was a ma¬
jority vote and I would have to go
with it,” said Moreno.
Of a different opinion is Anthony
Georgilas, communications profes¬
sor. Speaking as a faculty member
and not as faculty senate president,
Georgilas, a smoker, lashed out
Please see SMOKE. Page 3
Even COURIER staff members will be affected by the proposed
ban on smoking. Above, sports editor Ray Armendariz lights up.
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