PCC Courier, April 27, 1989

VOL 68, NO. 9 April 27, 1989 COURIER PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA Perception Survey Prompts Changes College To Correct Negative Perceptions From Community By Margie Goodhart Editor-in-Chief PCC is in the process of improving its public image by correcting negative perceptions held by members of the community and student community. Correcting the weak¬ nesses will help to better market the college’s strengths to high school students and their families. This process is the result of a survey presented as a marketing assessment packet to the Board of Trustees and prepared by Los Angeles-based company, Eckstone and Associates. Interviews questioned a variety of groups of people to formulate the results of the “perceived strengths and weaknesses” of the college. Telephone and in-person interviews questioned those in the business community, high school populations (students, teachers, counselors, parents), community service organiza¬ tions, working and non-working adults, minorities (Hispanic, Asian, Black and other — such as handicapped or indigent people) and members from all levels of the campus community. There were 110 individuals interviewed and 270 telephone contacts made to gather the information, accord¬ ing to the Marketing Assessment report. “The basic purpose for the perception audit is to aid the recruitment process and to improve public relations exter¬ nally and internally,” said Dr. Grover Goyne, dean of institu¬ tional advancement. “Every institution needs to have an awareness of its per¬ ception by the public,” said Goyne, “but most community colleges don’t perceive this as a priority. In order to improve our recruitment and the way we present ourselves as an institution, we needed to know how we were perceived by the public.” In his presentation, Stephen Eckstone said that this survey had been a unique experience because most colleges don’t call him until their enrollment figures seriously decline. With the spring enrollment figures up over the 20,000 mark, Eckstone complimented PCC on its “preventive mainte¬ nance.” “The key word for what we have been doing is market¬ ing,” Eckstone said. “We’re not just looking for skeletons but things we can change and fix, and we’re looking for the marketing strengths.” The data from the six-week process were broken down into perceived strengths and weaknesses of the college, then suggestions were made on maximizing the strengths and correcting the weaknesses that are correctable. One of the perceived weaknesses is the ‘ ‘parking, which is referred to as ‘unreal.’” “We’re a land-locked urban campus,” Goyne said. “It costs $10,000 per parking space to build a multi-level struc¬ ture. We can work on the parking problem, but it’s not totally solvable.” Another perceived weakness is racial discomfort, accord¬ ing to the report. The report states: “There is a preception among both Black and Asian students that PCC is inhospita¬ ble. Blacks tend to indicate problems primarily at the faculty level, while Asians indicate that the staff is not ‘kind to Asians.’ In addition, there is a considerable de facto segrega¬ tion taking place on campus with Black students tending to congregrate in the Quad and Asians in the cafeteria/ community center. Both groups indicate that they would like to see more mixing of the races. ’ ’ While Eckstone lists no specific suggestion in the report for dealing with the racial discomfort, he does state that “everyone (who works) at the college needs to think of himself as a ‘customer service representative’ and to treat customers with respect and courtesy.” Another idea in the planning stages to deal with this perceived weakness of racial discomfort is a workshop to be given by English instructor Robert Foreman for the faculty, Goyne said. The reason for this is that Foreman has had success in the classroom with interracially grouping students together in study groups to work on projects. While his method was not specifically designed to lessen racial discomfort, this has been the effect. The students have benefited both academically and socially, Goyne said. “Some problems are reflections of the social climate and community,” said Goyne. “Like the parking, not everything is solvable, but we can improve it. The report has planted a lot of seeds in many groups.” While racial discomfort is a perceived weakness, the cultural diversity of the campus is perceived as a strength, according to the report. Some of the cultural diversity is socio-economic. The report cites that PCC has “a variety of students, ranging from ‘bag ladies’ to graduate engineers. Cultures include growing numbers of Asians, newly arrived Soviet Armenians, multi-generations of American-born Hispanics, newly arrived Latin Americans, the children of ‘Eastern Establishment’ White families, and children of the East Los Angeles ghetto.” Of the strengths and weaknesses, Goyne said, “most things are both.” A campus marketing committee is the central group to whom the results of the perception audit have gone. But the John Quintanilla / The Courier Steven Eckstone presents his six-week perception study of the college’s image to the Board of Trustees. hope is that the report will affect committees of all kinds, Goyne said. “We want to look at each perception,” Goyne said. “If we find a negative perception is true, we’ll try to improve the negative. We’ll try to correct the truth.” Molina Issues Challenge Hispanics Urged To Take Action by Voting By Michael Rocha Staff Writer Hispanics as a group should continue to “challenge the system and make drastic changes in the way American society deals with Hispanic problems,” said Los Angeles First District Councilwoman Gloria Molina last Thursday at a La Raza Foundation luncheon in her honor. Molina, who represents the low-voting, politically inac¬ tive First District, considers “actions” as the answer to the complex problems facing the city and the nation today. She sees political solutions to most political problems. She con¬ tinues to tell Hispanics, especially Hispanic women, that there is a way out of the problems that plague the Hispanic community today. All they have to do is get involved in community affairs. “I think facing the reality of today’s problems is like anything else,’ ’ said Molina. ‘ ‘When that light bulb inside all of us goes on, you start recognizing the kind of possibilities in making those kinds of changes in the community, and it does take a lot of courage. But collectively we do have that kind of power.” Molina who started as a feminist/activist in the late 1960s and early 1970s has successfully risen the political ladder in recent years. In 1982, when sbe ran for the Assembly seat vacated by Art Torres, she received 80 per¬ cent of the vote, making her the first Hispanic woman elected to the California State Assembly. During her tenure as assemblywoman, she established an independent legislative style based on agendas created for and by her district. In addition, she consistently addressed the ever-worsening high school drop out crisis and fought to preserve children’s rights. In 1987, Molina became the first Latina elected to the Los Angeles City Council. Molina, who has dedicated her politi¬ cal life to community involvement, remains committed to the fight against the building of a prison in East Los Angeles. “When we asked Gov. Deukmejian to look at the proposed site for the prison, he did not even take the time to spend time with the people of East Los Angeles.” That is the kind of challenge Molina said she has to deal with every single day. Another challenge for Molina is voter registration. In 1984 Molina worked with the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and the Woman to Woman Campaign ‘84 to help register 42,000 new voters in the heavily populated Latino area of East Los Angeles. Eighty percent of those new voters were Democrats and more than 50 percent were wo¬ men. Women have always played a major role in Molina’s politics. Comision Feminil was established in Los /Vigeles to rally for better child care and job training for Hispanic women. “Comision Feminil was very successful. We started to challenge the system and rallied that funding should be given for the training of women. Women are working. That’s a reality. For the longest time, there was this perceived idea that women stayed at home and took care of their families. That’s non-existent. The reality is most women are having to go out and work. Consequently, we should be dealing with those kinds of issues.” When people finally realized that most women are work¬ ing, another issue was raised: child care. Comision Feminil came to the aid of most of these working women by develop¬ ing programs that sought to help working mothers and their children. Those developments provided Comision Feminil mem¬ bers with the challenges they needed to continue their in¬ volvement in women and child issues. “For all of us who have been involved in it,” said Molina, “I think it has given us the confidence and the ability to go out and continue to make those challenges which fit our entire community whether it’s for the women or the Hispanic community. “But we still have an awful lot of work to do in challeng¬ ing the system. While at the same time the discrimination is not as overt, but it’s still there. You can see it every single day in the statistics. You can see it in this college. I’m sure. As far as faculty, the number of Hispanics in the faculty and the administration. You will find discrimination. It s still there. We need to continue to confront those issues and recognize our collective power.” Molina said Hispanics nowadays are less willing to make those kinds of commitments. Comparing present-day Hispanics to the Hispanics of the late 1960s and early 1970s, she said Hispanics then were much more willing to get involved and confront the issues that concern them. ‘ ‘When we start looking at what’s going on at all our state colleges and universities, and you start talking about Hispanic enrollment and Hispanic faculty overall, you will find that they are minimal. Instead of it getting better, it’s getting worse. We need to confront those issues and make those commitments,” said Molina. The issue of low enrollment among Hispanics can also be seen in high school campuses. “When you look at the issue of high school dropout in the state of California, instead of it getting better, it’s getting worse,” said Molina. Furthermore, Molina added that “every important issue in Los Angeles and the state is getting worse. Whether it be in the issues of housing and employment, things are getting worse.” The crucial problems facing Hispanics today are often regarded as insignificant, said Molina. “Because the system has become more creative in dealing with today’s problems, they have often ignored the problems facing the Hispanic community. We have to get much more active and much more creative and develop stronger strategies as to how we’re goning to challenge that.” “While in the future, we are not going to see the kind of blatant discrimination we had before, we are going to see the kind of economic segregation that is going to get stronger and stronger and stronger,” said Molina. “People are not going to get that opportunity to participate. So for us who have the ability to speak up, to confront those issues and to develop those strategies and to take the risks, we need to do She said that there are many Hispanics in the community who are capable of challenging the system, but are not doing it. “When you look at what’s going on from die late ‘60s, the ‘70s and what’s happening now, it may not be as apparent but people are starting to realize the importance of getting together as a group and making a difference.” “In the last census, the count wasn’t there. Hispanics were denied a lot of funding and programs,” said MoJina. “In fact, California was denied because Hispanics were not properly 1и(Н|й.’’^п« V’\’ vnPf To tackle that problem, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) recently developed national programs that will solve the problems Hispanics encountered in the last census. “They will make sure that Congress is passing the right laws so that we get the full count,” said Molina. “They will monitor the White House to make sure they do the right things to benefit the Hispanic community. MALDEF will also focus on the state and local levels of government.” “They will make sure that the number is going to be there and put in place. So that everyone will be counted because that is very important in future funding, all other future actions, including affirmative action,” Molina added. The census will also help the government know the num¬ ber of Hispanics in the state. According to Molina, that will help legislators “formulate political lines in this state that are going to be much more respectful of the Hispanic com¬ munity.” Molina believes that those “political lines” will give peo¬ ple opportunities to run for office and get the opportunity to represent their community. ‘ ‘The government should be truly representative of the people they are serving. The people the government is representing should be involved in the policy making. That makes a difference, a lot of difference.” Even though present-day Los Angeles has many finan¬ cially successful Hispanics, Molina sees problems that need to be dealt with. “We still need to do more work in that area, particularly for the Latina,” said Molina. “Hopefully, my being the first Hispanic woman in the California State Assembly and the Los Angeles City Council has created more opportunities for the Latina woman. But the reality is, the problem is still there. It’s not a sudden change. Like everything else, the change will be slow. The struggle is still there. We need to continue to confront the issues,” Molina added. Gloria Molina Semi-Annual Pledge Drive Set for KPCC By Keith Foster Staff Writer It is that time of the year once again, it is time for KPCC’s first pledge drive of the year. It begins tomorrow and will go until May 8. As in the past, this drive also has a theme. It is “Get with it.” Kaye Adler, development director for the station says that everyone at KPCC will be involved with the fund drive. The an¬ nouncers will become “on air fund¬ raisers.” Even students not with the radio station will be volunteering. Members of the faculty and staff will also be answering the phones during the drive. Currently they have 75 volunteers lined up for service but are looking for more. “Volunteers make the whole thing happen,” she said, “I’m really looking forward to the pledge drive — it will be a lot of work but also a lot of fun thanks to all of the volunteers.” Premiums given to new members in¬ clude complimentary dinners at local resturants, record albums and gift cer¬ tificates from local merchants. This year’s pledge drive has something new, corporate members. These members gave pre-drive con¬ tributions that will allow KPCC to give a special, “seniors” membership dur¬ ing the drive. It will also get Airplay, the monthly program guide for KPCC, to convalescent and other senior care facilities. The biggest corporate mem¬ ber is Choice Television. The last fund drive netted $80,000 in pledges for the station. This time around, Adler is optomistic, she is looking for ‘six figures.’ For information on how to volunteer, contact Kaye Adler at 578-7231. Laser Festival PCC will be holding its eleventh annual Laser Festival and Expo May 10-12 between‘10a.m. and 8 p.m. Students and the general public are invited to view the many displays of electronic wizardry that will be there. The displays will include laser shows and holograms. There will be an opportunity for people to make there own holograms, each one will cost $1. If you want to do this, bring an item that is no more than three inches tall. There will be information on careers in the field of laser-electro optics also. Sink-a-Scholar Alpha Gamma Sigma will once again be doing their Sink-a-Scholar fund raiser. All departments and clubs are welcome to nominate people to take the plunge into the PCC pool. Names of the volunteers should be placed in the AGS mailbox or go to Janis Dwyer in D217. It will cost $20 to see a faculty member go in and $15 for a student. The money must be in by May 17. Mai! in Registration Mail in registration begins for the summer semester May 12. Students can pick up their permits to register in D200. The deadline is May 18. For more information, call the counseling office at 578-7251 or 578-7281. Concert in Sexson Numerous Latino musical groups will be performing in Sexson Auditorium on Saturday, May 29. Those that will be there include; El Chicano, Lalo Guerrero and The Latins Anonymous. Proceeds from this event will go to the Quetzelcoatl Memorial Scholarship. For more informa¬ tion call, KPCC at 578-7231. Employment Expo There will be an Employment Expo on Wednesday, May 10 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. in the quad. Opportunities for careers in business, communica¬ tions, art and allied health will be presented. Cultural Show The International Club will be presenting “Bring the World a Little Closer” tomorrow from 7-9 p.m. in Sexson Auditorium. Tickets are $5. For information call 578-7384. Page to Performance Tomorrow is the last day to apply for scholarships to the Page to Perfor¬ mance summer session in Ashland, Oregon. The applications are in the English office. English, theater arts and related majors can apply. Those that wish to go on the trip, must apply by May 19. Money for the trip is also due at that time. English 35, 135 and 60 are the courses that will be offered in Oregon. For more information, contact either Jane Hallinger or Pat Savoie at the English Dept, office at 578-7424. Superintendent President Jack Scott welcomes Jose Cuevas to Pasadena and to PCC’s Artist in Residence Program Tuesday night. Cuevas will be on campus until Friday. /nga Kornev / The Courier