PCC Courier, April 30, 1992

OPINION NEWSFEATURES SPORTS Presidency Are Americans turning the president into a king? Page 2 Benefit concert Local band plays benefit show for cancer victim. Page 3 Features Student actors reflect on the rewards of performing. Page 6 Pasadena City College Pasadena, California Vol. 74 No. 25 The COURIER Thursday April 30,1992 Leticia Sanchez, educational development student, uses the aid of a puppet to keep the children interested while listening to a story. Photos by Sue Hall and Katrina P. ТепЯЬе COURIER The Child Development Center sponsors a variety of activities for children. At right, Stewart Comer enjoys playing with a fruit basket. Child care facility gets state funding By AL SANTANA Staff Writer The State Board of Education has allocated $121,000 to PCC’s Child Development Center to fund a program that assists low-income parents who use the college’s child care services. Under this program, child care will be pro¬ vided at no charge for 48 children whose parents attend classes at PCC. This economic subsidy, which applies to families who earn less than $22,000 a year, started on Jan. 27. It marks the first time in nearly 10 years that the State of California has funded an expan¬ sion in child care programs. Ninety percent of the financial aid will be used to cover teachers and staff salaries. “Basically, the money provides a continuation in our child care program,” said Barbara Arnold, child care coordinator. “Now par¬ ents who qualify for this financial aid are able to send their children to this institution and they don’t have to worry about any fees. Before, parents had to look for financial aid, and it didn’t cover all their needs.” Arnold said that parents who leave their children at this center while they study at college look for two basic conveniences: qual¬ ity child care and a place considered close to the college. Also known as a child care facility, the program is staffed by 12 faculty members and their assis¬ tants. The facility’s functions include developing activities to meet the needs of each child in social, emo¬ tional, cognative and linguistic situations. These areas are regulated by the California Department of Education, which allots money to public child care institutions that follow the state’s guidelines. Arnold, also an instructor in childhood education, mentioned that economic resources from the state government are only budgeted to “exemplary centers” that show dis¬ cipline and cohesion in the child care process and its development. “We had to document that we were in the upper level of stale child care centers,” Arnold said. “Our center has earned an outstanding reputation.” Figures released by Arnold showed that only two children left from the child development institution this semester. Last semester, however, the turnover was 10 children. Usually when the chldren leave the center it is because of the par¬ ents’ inability to cope with college homework and the burden of tuition fee for childcare. The Child Care Center will be relocated to a new facility when a new site is found for the Community Skills Center. This semester, they only accepted 66 out of 250 children whose parents attempted to enroll at the institution. “We definitely need larger facilities to provide child care for the current demand,” Arnold said. “We can’t accommodate more than 66 children in this center.” Currently, parents of 18 chil¬ dren are paying tuition at the center. They pay between $25 and $45 a week, depending on the num¬ ber of days the child attends. Some private child care agencies charge more than $120 per child each week, not including expenses for food. The Child Development Cen¬ ter is open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4: 15 p.m. In the eve¬ nings, the center provides child care services from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Cur¬ rently, only children between the ages of 2 and 10 years attend the center. Report outlines AS expenditures □ A recently published report shows exactly how and where the AS Board has spent the more than $50,000 budget designed to support student activities. By CHRIS CATHCART Staff Writer An expenditure report of the Associated Student Executive Board (AS) was released by Alvar Kauti, dean of student services, on Tues¬ day, April 21, in an effort to en¬ lighten students as to where AS has spent money. “A great deal of questions have surfaced as to where the money has gone, and I believe it is time that people know where the money went,” said Kauti. The report was compiled by Kauti from bank records obtained from the student bank, where AS keeps its accounts. According to Kauti, all expenditures must be approved by his office before the bank will release funds to AS. “Any requisitions for money must have my signature on it, and the signa¬ tures of two AS members,” said Kauti. The report, therefore, con¬ tains all known expenditures as of April 21, according to Kauti. “This is everything,” he said. The six-page report briefly de¬ tails any expense AS made since taking office last June. Although thorough, the report does not spe¬ cifically explain the expenses; rather it shows how much was spent, with only a one or two word description of where it went. Only on the first few listings does it show from which accounts the money came, and throughout the rest of the report only the activity and what was spent is given. Kauti says that he didn’t set out Plans underway for Child Development Center relocation By EDWIN FOLVEN Editor-in-Chief Conceptual drawings have been made and a site has been chosen for a new Child Development Center (CDC) that will accommodate the children of PCC students after fa¬ cilities are moved from their present location at the Community Skills Center. The facility is currently housed in a building owned by the Pasadena Unified School District, and will be moved as soon as plans are approved and funds are allocated by the state. The new CDC is part of the col¬ lege’s $100 million masterplan and is awaiting approval on a list of building projects for state govern¬ ment operated organizations. Voters will decide on June 2 whether or not to pass Proposition 153, a bond issue that will provide funding for site acquisition for a new skills center. If passed, the bond issue will fund many projects on the state’s list, giving a new CDC a higher priority next year. According to Dr. James Kossler, assistant superintendent of PCC, the plan for a new CDC moved up in priority this year after 130 of 224 projects were adopted by the state. He explained that child care centers are a low priority on the state’s list but, “I believe we are the first child development center on their list.” He mentioned that no centers were adopted this year but six were cho¬ sen in 1991. A site that was originally donated by the city of Pasadena and then recalled because of property restric¬ tions may still be used to build a new skills center and CDC. The area covers a narrow strip of land located be¬ tween Foothill Boulevard and Or¬ ange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena. Previous complications arose because some of the land had been donated to the city by private parties and was restricted. Kossler said the area is already zoned for schools however, and it is now a matter of purchasing sections of the same property from city. Bond initiatives such as Propo¬ sition 153 would provide state fund¬ ing for property acquisition. Although construction of a new CDC is not the highest priority of the college’s master plan, conceptual drawings have already been created to fit the facility on the proposed site, and state approval could come as soon early as next year. The center would be built at an Please see Center: Page 4 Renown artist visits campus to share creative expression By PATRICIA DOLPHIN Opinion Editor As part of the annual PCC Artist in Residence program, art¬ ist Andres Nagel is working and lecturing on the campus. Bom in the Basque region of San Sebas¬ tian in Spain, Nagel has some¬ times been called a chameleon for his ambiguous, violent and playful variety of art work. Nagel uses many contrasting materials and likes to bring a certain comic element into his work. “I like working with ideas from films and shows. I work a lot with painting what I see in advertise¬ ments. I like the elements in them,” Nagel said. One element Nagel likes to work with and is reflected in his work is fiberglass. “I find fiberglass very easy to work with. It is very flexible. Some materials require someone to help you with them. Fiberglass does not.” Nagel said. In 1987 Nagel was also com¬ missioned to do a bronze 80 foot tall sculpture called, “Dragon with¬ out Saint George,” for a public park in Barcelona, Spain. The architectural sculpture possesses a user-friendly quality. “I wanted to do something where the people could come inside it,” Nagel said. “The dragon is the symbol of Barcelona. It is not a monument, it is much more playful.” The Artist an Residence pro¬ gram is funded by the general college budget, the Jameson Foun¬ dation and the PCC Foundation. One pleasant aspect of the Artist in Resi¬ dence program is that students get to see the artist at work. Throughout the week, Nagel has been working on a sculpture that he will donate to the college. The work will be housed in the new library after its comple¬ tion. Alex Kritselis, art gallery direc¬ tor, believes that art creates a dis¬ tance from the heaviness of life. “Art does not have to be a repeti¬ tion of the sadness we see every day. I believe Nagel excels by creating humor in his works,” Krit¬ selis said. Nagel has designed a poster espescially for the pro¬ gram which can be purchased in the Art Department office. An autograph session will take place in room Z102 today from 1 to 2 p.m. A reception and presenta¬ tion of Nagel’s work will take place tommorow at 1:30 p.m. in the Art Gallery courtyard. Photo by Sue Hall/The Courier Alex Kritselis, gallerydirector, left, speaks with artist Andres Nagel. to give a completely detailed sum¬ mary of every expenditure, saying that the bank has that record. “I wanted a clear report that showed that the money was spent by the students,” said Kauti. According to the report, AS had a total budget of $50,486; an amount that was established last year when AS set up its accounts and ear¬ marked money for specific events. As of April 21 , AS has spent $30,436, and has received an income of $1 ,624, leaving its bank balance at $22,674. Of the total spent, $14,450, or almost 46 percent, was given to campus clubs or the Inter Club Council (ICC). Included in the expense is an ICC conference that was held on campus. The next largest expense was $7,459 spent by AS to send board members to conferences, including a conference in New Orleans in the first week of April . The report origi¬ nally listed the amount spent for the conference at $3,992. But some members of AS had said that the amount was around $5,300. When asked to check on the accuracy of the report, Rebecca Cobb, faculty advisor to AS, noticed that $1,395 for registration had been left off the report. “The $375 for registration (which the report stated) should be for meals, and the real registration cost is $1,395,” Cobb said. She said that in order to get clarification for anything in the report, she would have to take a detailed look at the ledger in her office. When asked if there are any other Please see AS: Page 5 Student killed in accident By EDWIN FOLVEN Editor-in-Chief A Pasadena man suffered major head injuries and died early Sunday morning after he crashed his motor¬ cycle on campus. Mark Davis, 22, died from injuries sustained when he hit his head on the pavement in Lot 4. Davis, who was known by friends to always wear a helmet, was not wearing one at the time of the acci¬ dent. According to campus police, Davis was a student in the motor¬ cycle mechanics program at the Community Skills Center. A police report stated that he died at approxi¬ mately 7 a.m. at Huntington Memo¬ rial Hospital in Pasadena. Davis apparently lost control of the motorcycle and crashed after he struck a parking curb in Lot 4. The lots were properly lit at the lime but a curb could be hard to see for a person unfamiliar with the area. An eyewitness to the accident said Davis and others had been gath¬ ered at a house across the street from Lot 4. Davis’ motorcycle had apar- ently been knocked over and the engine was not running properly. He then rode it through the parking lot Please see Death: Page 4 /