Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
VoL 75 No. 10
COURIER
Thursday
April 29. 1993
Bus pass
services
expanded
□ New RTD-Foothill
bus pass is available
for higher fee.
By RODNEY MITCHELL
Staff Writer
College transportation officials
approved an agreement allowing
student services to sell the new joint
RTD/Foothill Transit bus pass after
students complained of having to
travel as far as downtown Los Ange¬
les to purchase them. They will go
on sale next month.
Along with the new passes, stu¬
dents can also expect an increase in
bus pass prices next month. The
college, which has subsidized spe¬
cial passes such as senior citizens
passes, will no longer do so. The
college will continue to subsidize
regular student passes, said Dr. James
Kossler, assistant superintendent of
administrative services.
The need for a joint pass came as
a result of a dispute between RTD
and Foothill Transit, the blue bus.
As of Jan. 1, Foothill no longer hon¬
ored RTD passes.
More than 250 students depend
on both bus companies as their
primary means of transportation to
and from school.
Students claimed the two bus
companies were insensitive to their
needs. Students said the companies
did not give their riders ample no¬
tice of the change.
Edward Temm, a broadcast main¬
tenance major, said that due to fee
increases, he was unable to afford
the extra fare which was almost triple
the amount he used to pay with the
pass.
Along with not being given ample
notice of the new policy, students
said they had to travel to other neigh¬
boring cities to purchase the pass.
Meanwhile, Maggie Tracy, as¬
sistant employee transportation
coordinator, began to lobby college
administrators to acquire the new
joint pass, which became available
in January. PCC did not acquire
See “BUS PASSES” page 5
LAST IN A SF.RTF.S
State budget looks grim
Problem-solving plans
Following are proposals being studied as
alternatives to a possible $2. 7 billion
shortfall in the community college budget.
No fee increase. Continue the
present $1 0 per unit levels into
next year and thereafter.
■ЛИ
Governor’s proposal. This
entails an increase of fees from
$10 to $30 per unit, with B.A.
students' tuition increasing from $50
to $104 per unit. Thirty percent of this
revenue would go to financial aid.
rC>
раш
Increase fees from $1 0 to $1 5
k* J per unit for the 1 993-94 school
year with inflationary
adjustment (COLA) every year thereafter.
Fifty percent would go to financial aid.
Increase fees from $10 to $15
. ..... per unit in the 1993-94 school
|pE : year, $20 per unit in 1994-95
. and $25 per unit in 1995-96.
Degree students would pay from $50 to
$68, $86, and $104 per unit over three
years. Forty percent of the fees would go
to financial aid.
By JONATHAN BLAKESLEE
Staff Writer
California’s state budget is fac¬
ing at least a $2.7 billion shortfall
this year and to help make up for
the lack of necessary funds, Gov¬
ernor Pete Wilson has proposed
an 1 1 percent ($301 million) cut
in community college funding.
This will require the system to
raise tuition fees as high as $30
per unit, in order to make up for
lost funding from the state, unless
revenues are diverted from other
areas.
The alternatives to the pro¬
posed fee increase, and the
amounts to which fees will be
raised will come to the forefront
of discussions in May.
California has a balanced
budget amendment, and cannot
operate from year to year with a
large outstanding debt. This is
geared towards ensuring that the
state never gets into the predica¬
ment that the national govern¬
ment has by accumulating a $4.3
trillion debt. However, Wilson
has stated that he will not raise
taxes again to pay for the budget
deficit.
This is because of the dra¬
matic downturn the state’s econ¬
omy took two years ago, when ,
Wilson agreed to a $7 billion tax
increase, said Raymond Reinhard,
assistant secretary of child devel¬
opment and education.
The implications of this cut in
community college funding could
put 300,000 students out of the
system, unless alternatives are
enacted said David Mertes, state
chancellor of community colleges.
Two such plans are the topic of
legislative discussion in Sacra-
mento.
The first alternative, Senate
Bill 48 (SB 48) offers an indefi¬
nite extension of the
1/2
cent emer¬
gency sales tax due to expire in
June. This bill uses an already ex¬
isting sales tax to divert funds
from other areas to supplement
education and would not require
raising any new taxes. The bill
splits $ 1 .5 billion of revenue four
ways. Community colleges would
receive $420 million, more than
enough to offset the $301 million
that Wilson has proposed to cut
from their budget. This could
prevent a fee hike all together.
The second legislative alter¬
native is Senate Bill 46, which
would enact the Higher Educa¬
tion Bond Act of
1994. This would
allow the state to
issue $900 million
in general obliga¬
tion bonds for
higher education.
However, the
likelihood of ei¬
ther of these two
pieces of legisla¬
tion passing is not
good, sources at
the capitol said.
Reinhard said that,
“Every lobby or¬
ganization in the
state has its eyes
on the
1/2
cent
emergency sales
tax in SB 48.
The governor
has also stated that
he is not in sup¬
port of this bill,
and probably
would not sign it.”
If neither bill
passes, the likeli¬
hood of commu¬
nity college fee in¬
creases will be
high.
“Some increase in tuition to
community colleges is virtually
unavoidable.” said Aaron Lubeley,
legislative aide to Glendale assem¬
blyman Pat Nolan. “However, I don’t
think the $30 per unit fee increase
will go through. The board of gov¬
ernors met, and spoke of a moderate
increase, which would entail $5 to
$10 more.”
Discussion of possible increases
is underway in the state chancellor
of community colleges’ office and
will be taken up by the California
Student Association of Community
Colleges (CalSACC) on May 7-9.
CalSACC will be holding its annual
conference and lobby session at the
capitol. They will be choosing to
support one of four main proposals
regarding community college fees.
A. No fee increase. Continue the
present $10 per unit levels into next
year and thereafter.
B. Governor’s proposal. This
entails an increase of fees from $10
to $30 per unit, with B.A. students’
tuition increasing from $50 to $104
per unit. Thirty percent of this reve¬
nue will go to financial aid.
C. Increase fees from $10 to $15
per unit for the 1993-94 school year
with an inflationary adjustment
(COLA) every year thereafter. Fifty
percent of this revenue would go to
financial aid.
D. Increase fees from $10 to
$15perunit in the 1993-94 school
year, to $20 per unit in the 94-95
school year, and $25 per unit in
the 95-96 school year. Tuition
for B.A. students would increase
from $50 to $68, to $86, and to
$104 per unit over three years.
Forty percent of these fees would
be used for financial aid.
All four of these proposals as¬
sume a growth of community col¬
lege revenues equalling the growth
of Proposition 98 funding levels,
which allocates a substantial
portion of the state’s community
college budget. However, be¬
cause of the state’s finances,
Wilson is still talking of sus¬
pending proposition 98 or freez¬
ing its funding levels for a year.
Cal$ACC ■ distributed these
proposals to all 107 state commu¬
nity colleges and will decide on
which proposal to support during
the May conference.
Raul Lopez, Associated Stu¬
dent (AS) coordinator of external
affairs, said AS has yet to reach
a consensus on which proposal to
officially support, but they are
leaning toward backing proposal
C. The AS recommendation will
be carried by ten PCC delegates
to the CALSACC conference.
Social science
faculty takes
issue to Board
By ALFREDO SANTANA
News Editor
Social science professors vowed
to officially seek Board of Trustees
intervention next week as they
boycotted the current selection
process for the department chair¬
person, which reportedly began this
week.
Professors agreed to ask trustee
members for a change of policy
that would give social science pro¬
fessors a majority of members at
first selection level and would al¬
low two faculty members on sec¬
ond interview level.
In a related matter, Faculty $enate
members, headed by John Jacobs,
agreed on Monday to adopt the
same stance social science profes¬
sors assumed. They are expected to
officially support changes sought
by the social science faculty next
Wednesday at 7
p.m., when col¬
lege trustees
meet.
‘This has been
a charade,” said
Dan Tiberi, social
science professor
at a faculty sen¬
ate meeting. “The
proper way to
finish this is to
go to the Board
of Trustees. Oth¬
erwise we will be
aFaculty Senate like a tiger with no
teeth.”
Even as social science faculty
members picked up the support of
the Faculty Senate that represents
the entire PCC teacher staff, they
completely bailed out of the chair¬
person selection process, pledging
to avoid making a selection until
administrators accept the social
science department petition for
change.
According to Robert McLean
social science professor, 29 full¬
time members in his department
voted last week to cease faculty
participation in their chair selec¬
tion process. Eight professors casted
their ballots to approve the current
chair selection system.
Conducted from Wednesday to
Friday of last week, the internal
poll failed to collect only one ballot
out of 39 full-time professors who
ultimately have to live with any policy
if changes are implemented by the
new department chairperson, McLean
said.
“One thing we hope the Ltrustce
members] will do is to ask the ad¬
ministration to bring a solution soall
sides can come up winners, ’’McLean
added. “We don ’ t have a meaningf ul
representation.”
The social science department
claim that college administrators have
previously stated that if a faculty
majority made the first interview
panel, they would tend to weed out
minorities from the pool of possible
candidates. The fact that
administrators have long regarded
chairpositions as “managerial” has
perhaps been the most contentious
issue. Faculty members said they
perceive chair positions as non-ad-
ministrative.
Previously, the social science
department unanimously rejected a
“compromise”
offered by college
officials where
faculty and ad¬
ministrators could
have had four
members each at
the first selection
level. At the sec¬
ond level inter¬
view, one faculty
member could be
along with at least
five administra¬
tors.
Under the current selection pro¬
cedures, Dr. David Ledbetter, col¬
lege vice president, Pauline Crabb,
assistant dean of instruction, Kath¬
erine Rodarte, Equal Opportunity
Program and $ervices (EOP&8)
representative and Robert Navarro,
engineering and technology chair¬
man reportedly began screening
applications submitted from local
professors as well as from candi¬
dates off campus.
Joseph $argis, board of trustees
president, said his panel will atten¬
tively listen to both sides of the
argument in this conflict prior to
draw any conclusions. However, he
defined the administration bid as “a
reasonable” solution.
“The administration has offered
a compromise better than what it
[the selection system] is currently,”
$argis said. “It’s a fair one.”
Pt,
i&ii
У'
jp
L.
■
Photos by OSCAR CHAVEZ/ IRC
John Jacobs and Daniel Tiberi
ON EXHIBIT:
“Even though I
make art out of
junk, the
meaning of the
work is not
lessened,” said
artist in
residence
Alexis Smith.
Smith told
students about
the evolution of
her works. Her
installation at
the Art Gallery
will end
Saturday.
Photo by
KATRINA P.
TEN/ The
COURIER
Clinton marks 100 days
Administration gets mixed reviews from students, faculty
By ANISSA VICENTE
Editor in Chief
His first 100 days in office over,
many of his major initiatives still in
the works or awaiting congressional
action, and dogged by campaign
promises, Bill Clinton today re¬
ceived both cautious praise and stri¬
dent criticism for his performance as
the nation’s 42nd president.
Campus assessment on the 100th
day after Clinton assumed the presi¬
dency, was mixed.
“He has a lot of great ideas but
he’s going to need time,” said Eliza¬
beth Contreras, founder of the Col¬
lege Democrats on campus. “He’s
not rushing through the issues and
he’s really working at explaining his
position to the public. He’s letting us
think about it instead of just jumping
the gun.”
Contreras said Clinton’s stance
on gay servicemen in the military is
“holding up pretty well.” But critics
said little about the Clinton admini¬
stration remains unbroken, includ¬
ing his campaign promises.
“Unfortunately, there are no posi¬
tive highlights,” said Dylan Little¬
field, president of the College Re¬
publicans. “ He has not acted like a
president. He hasn’t treated the
See “CLINTON’S page 5
Photo courtesy of the White House
President Bill Clinton’s first 100
days in office is the subject of
lively speculation and review.
t