PCC Courier, April 29, 1993

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