PCC Courier, April 28, 1994

OPINION It’s time for students to take action and fight another tuition increase Page 2 FEATURES Deaf Awareness Day to show that disability does not hinder the lifestyle of students in any way Page 3 Theater Arts Department presents “You Can’t Take It With You,” a Pulitzer award-winning play about a very unusual family NEWS Overpopulation and pollution must be solved, speakers say Page 4 THE PASADENA CITY COLLEGE Pasadena, California Vol. 78 No. 14 COURIER Serving the PCC Community for 76 years THURSDAY April 28, 1994 Dive for dollars Я* ERWIN GOLDBERGAhe COURIER Karla Henderson, assistant dean of scholarships and financial aid braces herself for a big splash. Sink-A- Scholar Commencement speaker selected □ John Slaughter, president of Occidental College, dares graduating students to dream By JOEL HELD Staff Writer PCC’s 1944 cnmme.ncemp.nl speaker will be Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, president of Occidental College. Slaughter, an educator and researcher, was chosen after a five month search. He is a motivator, an example to the community, and to the graduating students, according to the selection committee. He will address the graduating class on Friday, May 20 at 6 p.m. Slaughter, a life long member of the NAACP, was selected by the committee for his impressive achievements. He is excited about coming to give PCC’s graduates some encouragement. “If you dream a big dream, you will achieve it,” he said. Slaughter added that as a young man, not many believed he would achieve so much, but lie dreamed and made something of h i s 1 i fc . H c wan ts the grad ualcs to dare to dream and achieve. The process that led to Slaughter’s selection started early last semester. Alvar Kauti, dean of student ser¬ vices, said “ the selection process is an orderly but complicated one. It starts out in September with an annouccmcnt in the Campus Crier urging students, staff and faculty to pick their choice for speaker. After the commitcc collects all the names, the list is narrowed down to 15-20 prospective speakers. Then the com- mittec makes the final choice. Slaughter, a native of Topeka Kansas, graduated from Kansas Stale University with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He earned a master’s of science degree in engi¬ neering at UCl A and a doctorate in engineering science from UC San Diego. Slaughter started his teaching ca¬ reer in 1961. He held various ap¬ pointments as an adjunct-professor or part-time instructor at San Diego State and UC San Diego. He left San Diego in 1975 and accepted a job offer at the University of Washing¬ ton. He joined the Applied Physics Labratory of the University of Wash¬ ington as its director and professorof Please see “SPEAKER,” Page 3 Basketball pla SHANE CLARKE/The COURIER An instructor hollers as he jumps into the pool. Instructors get wet for money Splish... splash. ..Instructors, staff, and students took the plunge at this year’s AIphaGamma Sigma’s Sink-A-Scholar. Students paid S20 to have their favorite or not so favorite instructor dive into the pool. “Th is was an opportunity to have fun and raise money,” said Robert Bowman, the recently elected Associated Students (AS) president who dove as a representative of Caduceus Club. Students pur¬ chased water balloons to pelt the plungees as they walked down the diving board. The event’s finale showcased master of ceremo¬ nies Anthony Gcorgilas doing a semi-strip tease for the audience before cooling off in the pool. AGS raised more than SI, 120. □ William “Maurice” Pryor died Thursday from injuries he suffered in a car accident By RAY ARMENDARIZ Sports Editor When Jahmond D’Antignac said goodbye to his fellow teammate and best friend last Wednesday outside of the Men's Gym, he didn't know that it would be the last time he would sec or talk to him again. William Maurice Pryor died Thursday morning at Huntington Memorial Hospital at 10:28 a.m. from injuries he suffered in an accident at the intersection of Orange Grove and El Molino, according to Patrick Scott, social worker at the hospital. “The last thing he said when we talkcd,”D’Antignacsaid sadly, “was ‘I’m gone. Peace out.’ He drove down Del Mar, made a right on Hill and that was the last I saw of him. “He was my best friend since high school,” said D’Antignac who first met Pryor in the ninth grade while playing basketball at Compton High School. “He was a loveable guy and a very gifted basketball player. Right now I feel really empty like a piece of me is gone. Sometimes I just can’t be¬ lieve he is gone and sometimes I don’t want to believe it. Right now I just have this empty feeling inside and I don’t know when it will ever go away,” D’Antignac said. The accident happened when a car pulled in front of Pryor as he was entering the intersection. Trying to avoid a collision, he swerved and crashed head on into a tree. Chrystal Smith, who is a close friend of Pryor's, talked with a nurse at Huntington Memorial Hospital who was present when Pryor was brought in at 10 a.m. just barely hanging on to his life. “From what she told me,” Smith said, “he suffered extensive head injuries, one of his shoulders was William Pryor badly broken and both of his legs were crushed. They worked on him for about 20 minutes.” Coaches and teammates are dev¬ astated by the. loss of not just a teammate but a close friend. Pryor played football last season as a light end and was used mainly for block¬ ing. He made five receptions for 1 1 1 yards. “He was a happy-go-lucky guy and a good person. We’re going to miss dearly,” said Dennis Gossard, Please see “ACCIDENT,” Page 3 Asian speaker addresses stereotypes □ Dr. Bob Suzuki, president of Cal Poly Pomona, warns against “model minority” notion By ENRICO PIAZZA News Editor Despite the significant progress made by the Asian Pacific American community in the last25 ycars,group members still face a “glass ceiling” caused by racial barriers when they try to move upward in society, ac¬ cording to Dr. Bob Suzuki, Cal Poly Pomona president. Suzuki, the keynote speaker at last S unday ’s dedication of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Room in the Shatford Library , added that Asian Americans also suffer from the ste¬ reotype that sees them as a “model minority.” “We are viewed as the minority group that has ‘ made it’ in American “...there is still a long way to go before we, as well as other minorities, are adequately represented in all segments of our society at all levels.” I)r. Bob Suzuki society, that wc have no problems and we need no help,” said Suzuki. “There is no such thing as a ‘positive stereotype,’ and this model minority stereotype played up by the media works against us.” Suzuki, an engineer turned edu¬ cator, lived nine years in Pasadena and was very active in promoting the Asian American studies program at PCC, one of the first schools in the nation to offer it. Suzuki also taught the course at PCC in 1971, the first lime it was offered. “We were basically teaching about ourselves and our experiences in this country,” said Suzuki, who was among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent imprisoned during World Warll. He added that Asian American studies are now a well established discipline all over the country, and there is shortage of people qualified to teach it. “I ’ve been struck with theprogress that we Asian Pacific Americans have made, but I think there is still a long way to go before wc, as well as other minorities, are adequately rep¬ resented in all segments of our soci¬ ety at all levels,” said Suzuki. “That progress has been made inch by inch. It has been agonizingly small, and it is easy to gel discouraged by that kind of progress.” He said his concern is that the younger generations of Asian Pa¬ cific Americans might“bccomc com¬ placent, or even apathetic” to the progress made. Suzuki said he is worried by the increasing incidents of anti-Asian harassment and violence across the country. He said there are two fac¬ tors that “spill over against Asian Pacific Americans: ” the growing con¬ cerns about both legal and illegal immigration, and the stiff economic competition the United States is fac¬ ing from Asian countries. Master of ceremonies Harry Kawahara, counselor, spoke of the importance of libraries in the educa¬ tional process. He thanked all those who worked very diligently for the realization of the heritage room. “This new room, together with the other two ethnic heritage rooms in this library, underscore the reality that PCC is a multicultural campus,” Kawahara said. HOWARD BURGER/The COURIER Members of the Vietnamese Students Association perform Duyen Tinh, a traditional fan dance, for Asian American Awareness Week.