April 24, 2014
VOLUME 109 ISSUE 12
EDITORIAL
A CL T-
Z WO
4. c r-
Did the District have
good reasons for
disinviting Dustin Lance
Black?
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Women’s swimming sets six records
Antonio Gandara/Courier
Two-time Swimmer of the Year Shannon Cheung is congratulated by head coach Terry Stoddard after her record-setting victory
in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
Daron Grandberry
Staff Writer
The 2014 Lancer women’s
swim team made a bold state¬
ment with their impressive
performance at this year’s South
Coast Conference Champion¬
ships, breaking several confer¬
ence records.
Led by two-time SCC Swim¬
mer of the year Shannon
Cheung and freshman Connie
Peng, the Lancers broke six
conference records and 1 1
school records on their way to a
prosperous meet from April 1 7
to April 1 9 at Mt. San Antonio
College.
“We put up a pretty good
fight,” Cheung said. “I’m happy
with our improvement from last
year. All of our girls swam best
times so that was great.”
On the opening day of the
SCC Championships, the Lanc¬
ers broke a 1 4-year-old SCC re¬
cord in the 400-yard medley re¬
lay with a new conference record
of 3:58.94 in the event tide win.
Returning sophomore Arolyn
Basham and freshman Tiffany
Wong paired with Cheung and
Peng to become the first team in
conference history to break the
four minute mark in the 400.
“I’m so proud to have such
amazing teammates,” Peng said.
“I’m having the best time of my
life swimming with such amaz¬
ing athletes.”
Adding to their record
breaking meet, the quartet of
Basham, Cheung, Peng and
Wong also recorded a new SCC
record in the 200 medley relay
SWIM page 12 ►
District apologizes to
Oscar-winning alumnus
Benjamin Simpson/Courier
Board of Trustees President Anthony Fellow at a
Board meeting on Jan. 1 5, 2014.
Christine Michaels
and Philip McCormick
Staff Writers
The Board of Trustees
apologized to Oscar win¬
ning screenwriter Dustin
Lance Black in a prepared
statement released Mon¬
day and said that an email
received by Black inviting
him to be the school’s
commencement speaker
resulted from “an honest
error.”
Senior Vice President
Robert Bell took responsi¬
bility for what the district
described as miscommu-
nications that led to the
controversy.
“Due to errors in
following procedure for
which I am responsible...
we have embarrassed our
esteemed alumnus Dustin
Lance Black because of
an invitation that was
mistakenly delivered to
his representative, and we
owe the public an apology
for involving Pasadena
City College in a con¬
fusing situation that has
unfortunately spilled over
into public comment on
homophobia,” Bell said,
according to the state¬
ment.
Black posted to Face-
book early Tuesday, saying
he was unsatisfied with the
district statement.
“It took the @LAtimes
mere hours to see through
PCC’s dishonest, disin¬
genuous statement. I can’t
imagine it will take PCC
students, professors or a
court of law much lon¬
ger,” his post reads. “Mr.
[Fellow], in a courtroom,
evidence matters, not spin.
There, you must tell the
truth, the whole truth and
nothing but. This is as
polite a final warning as I
can offer now. Get honest,
apologize to your students
and school and make
amends.”
Black was the first of
eight potential candidates
to make himself available
as a speaker, but the Board
of Trustees were made
aware of nude pictures
of him with a man having
unprotected sex which
surfaced on the internet in
2009 and he was dismissed
as a candidate because_the
STATEMENT page 2 ►
Governing board
has final say in
shared’ governance
Philip McCormick and
Justin Clay
Staff Writers
An official from the Community College League
of California clarified that the administration has
the final say on issues that are discussed between
the “participatory governance” groups at a techni¬
cal visit on April 14.
“Participatory governance” has been area
of tension between the administration and the
Academic Senate for the past few years, as the
Academic Senate and Associated Students have
consistendy criticized the administration for not
considering their input when making campus
decisions. But Scott Lay, President and CEO of
the Community College League of California,
said that final authority belongs exclusively to the
administration.
“Shared governance is a general term used in
higher education,” explained Scott Lay, President
and CEO of the Community College League of
California. “The [CCLC] and the Academic Senate
refer to participatory governance to describe Cali¬
fornia’s law, as it’s about providing people affected
by decisions the opportunity to participate in the
decision-making process. At the end of the day,
you can’t ‘share’ a decision. Someone/ some body
(i.e. governing board) has to make it.”
The Accrediting Commission for Communi¬
ty and Junior College’s Accreditation Standards
states: “Through established governance struc¬
tures, processes, and practices, the governing
board, administrators, faculty, staff, and students
work together for the good of the institution.
These processes facilitate discussion of ideas and
effective communication among the institution’s
constituencies.”
PARTICIPATORY page 2 ►
