PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
DECEMBER 1, 1978
Student Groups Continue
Battle Over Student Voice
By Kathy Braidhill
News Editor
Focusing on why the ASB senate and
board were battling, the student
government groups made attempts to
put personalities aside and discuss the
issues at an informal Tuesday
meeting. Talk ranged from, “why do
we fight each other?” from Derek
Coleman, ASB president, to “I think
the ASB board is avoiding the issue,”
from Mike Tiberi, student senator.
Key members of the ASB senate and
Derek Coleman, ASB president,
discussed “what the problem” is
between the two student government
groups.
The two groups engaged in a
parliamentary procedure war against
each other the last time each had their
formal meetings over an ASB con¬
stitutional amendment unanimously
passed by the senate.
The amendment creates a new ASB
office for the student trustee position.
Coleman feels it is the responsibility of
the ASB president to represent the
students and attend the Board of
Trustee meetings.
Coleman approached the conflict at
the start of the meeting. “Here’s the
problem. We’ve got to get things
straight. There’s been a lot of undue
conflict between the ASB board and
the senate. What’s the problem? Why
do we fight each other?”
"My personal opinion is that the
senate is aware of what’s going on,”
said Tiberi. "There are questions
among the board, and I think they’re
avoiding the issue. I don't think they
comprehend what our motives are. We
want to start a whole new ASB office.”
He pointed out the trustees would
work on his own initiative as an in¬
dependent representative, but listen to
the two student government groups in
"Lisa Albanese, ASB vice president,
asked if we should move to adjourn
and I said: ‘Do what you want.’ ”
Helen Roberts, student senator,
asked Coleman if the purpose of the
ASB board was to listen to the
students.
“We were wrong,” he said. “Our job
is to listen to the students. On the other
side, all people are human. Our real
purpose was to get information and
find out what AB 591 was all about. The
meeting started getting to be more
than that.”
The student senate was pressing for
the. board’s position on the amend¬
ment.
“We don’t have enough information
to form an opinion,” said Coleman.
Later, both stressed the need to unite
and work out a compromise, setting
personal conflicts aside.
“They (personal opinions) got in the
way of what was really happening,”
said Coleman.
He explained his own position by
describing his political philosophy to
the senate representatives. “I’ve
developed a political policy that you
can fight arid argue as much as you
want, and I may disagree with you, but
I don’t have any personal vendettas
against anyone. You just do what you
want.”
A committee is being formed by the
two sections of student government to
define the rights and responsibilities of
the student trustee. Two students from
each board and the senate; the deans
of student activities, A1 Kauti and
Phyllis Jackson; some members of the
DEREK COLEMAN
“There are questions among the
board, and I think they’re avoiding
the issue.”
-Tiberi
“I’ve developed a political policy
that you can fight and argue as
much as you want, and I may
disagree with you, but I don’t have
any personal vendettas against
anyone. You just do what you
want.”
—Coleman
addition to direct student input to be
most effective.
“Let’s discuss the amendment,”
Tiberi continued. "What don't you like
about the idea? We’re the only
organization to take the initiative on
this amendment.”
Coleman said he was unable to speak
for the rest of the ASB board members.
He said the senate already knew how
he felt about the amendment,
specifically, protecting the pffice of the
ASB president.
Coleman also explained why Lisa
Albanese made the sudden move to
adjourn the ASB board meeting, which
cut off Tiberi as he was explaining the
amendment to the board.
“It was done'Tor a reason. We were
tired of sitting here. We’d been AB 591-
ed all week and we were fed up. We
weren’t even ready for a vote.”
administration and two represen¬
tatives from the student population
will form the committee.
The Tuesday meeting was supposed
to include Dr. Richard Meyers,
superintendent-president; Mrs.
Mildred Wardlow, vice-president of
administrative services; and deans
Jackson and Kauti.
These members of the ad¬
ministration and faculty individually
said they could not attend the
scheduled meeting due to illness and
other obligations.
MIKE TIBERI
Delayed Until January
Sabbaticals in Limbo
chairman of the Professional Growth
and Program Committee, and Pat
O'Day, chairman of the Budget and
Salary Committee.
According to a November 17 Faculty
Senate memorandum, both com¬
mittees are scheduled to report to the
FSB on January 8, 1979. In order to
facilitate a proper factual presentation
to the FSB, Brown will be distributing
a poll to all faculty members. To en¬
sure that the poll will be accurate and
thorough, he has outlined a number of
preliminary steps to be taken before
the poll will be handed out.
After contacting several faculty
members who have shown a personal
interest in the sabbatical issue, Brown
this week distributed a first rough
draft to FSB members. He expects to
receive feedback by the end of next
week.
The draft covers several points
which Brown has researched:
1) an explanation of sabbaticals as
“inservice programs” (the view that
sabbaticals benefit primarily the
employer);
2) an explanation of sabbaticals as
"fringe benefits” (the view that
sabbaticals are an employee benefit
like life insurance and dental care);
3( how these two views relate to
present policy at PCC;
4) a cost analysis of sabbaticals;
5) frequent questions and common
responses about sabbaticals;
6) a tentative questionnaire aimed
at assessing faculty opinion;
7) a percentage index of sabbatical
leaves broken down by year (starting
with 67-68) and department.
On the basis of the feedback he
receives, Brown will revise the first
draft and send a second draft out to all
faculty memberes near the middle of
this month. This will give teachers two
opportunities and ample time to ex¬
press their views.
Any final revisions necessary will
By Steve McManus
Staff Writer
The future of faculty sabbaticals is
somewhat in doubt.
At its last meeting, the Board of
Trustees, following the recom¬
mendation of the Faculty Senate
Board (FSB) and Superintendent-
President Richard Meyers, postponed
any decisions on sabbatical leave
policy until its January 18 meeting.
In the interim, the task of gathering
and organizing faculty opinion has
been delegated to Dr. Gordon Brown,
then be made and the poll will sub¬
sequently be taken before Christmas.
By the time the poll is handed out,
Brown hopes that everyone will have
thought out their position. He expects
the compeltion of the poll to be similar
to the mechanics of election day
voting.
Over the vacation period, the data
will be organized. Brown plans to draft
a motion, consistent with the attitudes
and feelings expessed in the poll, and
present that motion to the FSB on
January 8. If it is approved, it will then
be given to the Board of Trustees
before its January 18 .meeting.
Cost is a major concern to some
faculty members. The passage of
Proposition 13 caunsed a decrease in
the school budget of approximately 15
percent. Coupled with a wage and
price freeze which disallowed any cost
increase for teachers this year, many
teachers feel that sabbaticals have
become a low priority item— even
expendable.
While if is important to point out that
it is only a first rough draft, Brown's
outline (the one given to FSB members
this week) suggests that the cost factor
is not that significant. After discussing
the draft last Monday, Brown
remarked, “As far as I can see, if the
faculty wants sabbaticals they can
have them.”
SO SOFTLY PLUCKED THE LUTE— Robert Higgins and Laurie
Jennings perform Renaissance music at the Pasadena Public Library.
The two former PCC students had the help of PCC music teacher
Dione Sparks (not pictured) on the harpsochord.
—Courier photo by Marcus Wllk
Instructor Protests Evaluation
Terms It as a Political Thing'
By Kathy Braidhill
News Editor
William Logan, assistant professor
of speech, feels that his unsatisfactory
teacher evaluation given last year
from former communications
department chairman William Shanks
was unfairly based on one incident.
An alleged physical altercation
with a PCC student last fall is the crux
of his bad evaluation.
"It galls the hell out of me, there’s
been so many other altercations
(between faculty and students). They
didn’t suspend anyone. It’s a violation
of my faculty rights. This is a political
thing," he said.
Logan claims as a result of his bad
evaluation, “they’ve taken away two
(of my) night classes. They gave them
to somebody else. I’m up for professor
and I will not get it. They can use it to
fire me, so my lawyer tells me.”
Logan’s performance outside the
classroom should not be a part of the
evaluation, Logan said. He said his
evaluation of in-class teaching was
satisfactory. Logan claims he works
his students more than other speech
teachers.
“Here I am giving out all the
speeches and assignments, and some
of my students who’ve taken other
teacher’s classes only had to do two,”
he said.
Crystal Watrson, communications
department chairman, said the classes
that were dropped in her department
were discontinued after she “took a
look at enrollment. We don’t just
wholesale drop classes. The reduction
of classes that are least inconvenient
to people and still provide a' service
was our goal,” she said.
She said the fullest classes are in the
morning, the least full in the evening.
It was Logan’s Tuesday and Thursday
night classes that were dropped
completely from the curriculum.
If the decision was made to not add
an extra class to a teacher who
received an unsatisfactory evaluation,
Ms. Watson said she could hire an
hourly person. The evaluation was not
a consideration, she said.
According to John Madden, dean of
personnel services, the only hours a
teacher under contract is guarenteed
is 15 hours a week. Extra hours, such
as extended day or evening classes,
are a privilege and not promised to
anyone.
Logan’s Tuesday and Thursday
night classes were completely dropped
from the- curriculum .
In accordance with academic due
process procedure, Logan first went to
the immediate source of his grievance,
Shanks, to protest the evaluation.
Dissatisfied, Logan said he started the
formal part of the academic due
process procedure in writing, sending
a memorandum of his complaint to
Madden, Mildred Wardlow, vice
president for administrative services,
and the president of the faculty senate,
Ms. Watson.
A review panel, called the
professional rights and responsibilities
committee, was drawn by lot from the
members of the faculty senate to hear
Logan.
Claire Liska, assistant professor of
nursing, James Crayton, librarian,
and Bruce Carter, physical sciences
instructor, heard Logan October 24.
Still unhappy with this, Logan’s next
step, according to procedures outlined
in the faculty handbook, was to bring
his grievence to the attention of the
former superintendent-president, Dr.
E. Howard Floyd.
Dr. Floyd was involved in the in¬
cident, according to Logan and Dr.
Richard Meyers, current superin¬
tendent-president. The matter was
brought before the Board of Trustees
November 2, and the Board is expected
to reach a decision December 7.
With the influx of Proposition 13 last
spring, said Shanks, now a member of
the English department, he had to
schedule teacher’s classes with a 120
percent overload, meaning more
classes to teach. Shanks said he has
never promised two night classes to
anyone, since there is never a
guarantee of any night work.
Glamour
PCC students are invited to participate in Glamour Magazine’s.
1979 Top Ten College Women Contest. Young women from colleges
and universities throughout the country will compete in Glamour's
search for 10 outstanding students. A panel of Glamour editors will
select the winners on the basis of their solid records of achievement in
academic studies and-or in extracurricular activities on campus or in
the community.
The 1979 Top Ten College Women will be featured in Glamour’s
August College Issue. During May, June or July, the 10 winners will
be invited to New York to meet the Glamour staff and will receive a
$500 cash prize.
Anyone who is inerested in entering the search should contact
Phyllis Jackson, dean of women, for more information. The deadline
for submitting an application to Glamour is Dec. 15.
CENTER OF CONTROVERSY— William Logan, assistant professor of
speech, cites the dropping of two of his classes and a bad faculty
evaluation as a “political thing” and is now fighting it.
—Courier photo by Steve Franklin
ACCOSTING— Bill Quinones (left) and Tory Hanson (right) really put
the hold on Margie Weiss in “Hold Me" by Feiffer. Story on page 3.
ХШ
r
■
гф*Я
к
iH
г
M
A
m
к
i f
:/7 .
V. 1