PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 80 No. 13
™E COURIER
Serving the Pasadena Community since 1915
THURSDAY
December 1, 1994
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Petition may
lack signatures
By ENRICO PIAZZA
COURIER STAFF WRITER
A petition to recall AS President Robert
Bowman was filed Tuesday with the student
activities office. Because of contradictory
sections in the AS Constitution, it was not
clear at press time if enough signatures were
collected. A decision is expected by tomor¬
row. If enough valid signatures were col¬
lected, a special election will be held within
10 days asking students whether they want
Bowman to remain as president.
The decision on how to interpret the often
unclear AS Constitution will be made by the
office of student activities.
“We are in a quandary because different
articles in the AS Constitution contradict each
other,” said Steven Johnson, assistant dean
of student activities, adding that he has al¬
ready asked the Supreme Council to review
the constitution to clarify its unclear sections.
Johnson said a decision regarding the
required number of signatures will be
reached by tomorrow, either by this office or
by the “election committee.” The committee
is made up by three students, one faculty
member, the student activity adviser, and
Johnson.
“If we can ’t find a decision with which we
feel very comfortable, we’ll defer to the
election committee,” Johnson said. He added
that one student will be appointed by him, and
the other two, according to the AS Constitu¬
tion, normally would have been appointed
by the AS President. However, Johnson said
that in order to avoid a potential conflict of
interest, he advised President Bowman to let
another board member appoint the two stu¬
dents. Roldan Herrera, AS executive vice
president, appointed Kim Smoot and Bob
Cagle. Both were approved by the AS Board
last Monday.
In order to resolve the recall dilemma, the
committee must attempt to clarify the AS Con¬
stitution.
Article 8 of the constitution says that only
5 percent of students taking credit classes are
required to sign a petition to request a
“referendum on any measure passed by the
AS Board.” Article 9 says that the same num¬
ber of signatures are required to amend the
constitution, but article 8 says the signatures of
10 percent of the whole student body, regard¬
less of the kind of classes they take, must be
collected for a recall election.
In an Oct. 3 1 letter signed by Carrie Afuso,
student affairs adviser, she approved the pe¬
tition to recall the president. The text read “10
percent of the student body enrolled on cam¬
pus for the Fall semester” must sign the peti¬
tion by Nov. 29, as “outlined in Article 8,
Section 2.” While members of Statement of
the Student [SOS], the petition initiators, have
met the deadline, they said they presented
2,478 signatures. That number does not meet
the 10 percent requirement of the 25, 984
enrolled students in the Fall semester. There
are 4,228 noncredit students enrolled in the
school. Regardless of the kind of courses
they take, all PCC students have the right to
vote for their student representatives, al¬
though only 1 ,200 voted in the last election.
Various strange incidents marred the re-,
call campaign. Initiators of the recall petition
complained that three of the forms containing
signatures have been stolen by unknown
students, who, pretending to sign the petition,
walked away with them. SOS members said
they have a suspect and will follow the legal
process to prosecute that student. Another
controversy involves the places where some
of the signatures were collected. SOS mem¬
bers said to have collected many signatures in
the library, apparently against library rules.
“We don’t allow any kind of solicitation,
whether political or commercial, inside the
library,” said Dr. David Dowell, library direc¬
tor. “We have a hard time just keeping the
library almost quiet so students can study.”
However, he added that the library doesn’t
have the manpower to police solicitations.
According to Dowell, no complaints have
been reported to him regarding collecting
Please see RECALL, Page 4
Doo dah...doo dah...
ANITA NARDINE/ THE COURIER
Members of the West Hollywood Cheerleaders marched down Colorado
Boulevard once again last Sunday during the annual Doo Dah parade. Years
of escalating raucousness led to a one time experiment with admission charged
to a festival venue in front of City Hall last fall. This year, the parade returned to
the streets in a toned down versiori under the sponsorship of the non-profit Light
Bringer Project. Pasadena police pegged attendance at 10,000 orderly
spectators. Many PCC students participated in the parade.
KPCC raises
$217,000 for
programs
By DENIS WANG
COURIER STAFF WRITER
KPCC recently set a pledge drive record
by amassing $21 7,000, the largest sum of money
ever collected during a single pledge drive.
The fundraiser, held from Nov. 4 to Nov. 14,
helped to temporarily narrow the gap in the
radio station’s funds, originally created by a
budget shortfal 1 of $ 1 00,000.
Rod Foster, general manager of KPCC,
attributed the success of the fund-rai sing event
to good planning and hard work. Foster said
that more than 75 volunteers continuously
compressed their efforts and helped inside
the station’s pledge room to process the con¬
tributions flowing through the telephone lines.
From 6 a.m. to midnight, they collected dona¬
tions, mostly charged by credit card, and
shattered their previous record of $194,000,
also accumulated in 1 1 days.
“We talked to our listeners about the vol¬
unteering nature of giving,” Foster said. “We
wanted to communicate the sense of respon¬
sibility and duty to generously respond to a
radio station they like.”
In return for their donations, contributors
received T-s rirts and mugs imprinted with
KPCC logos. Others accepted numerous
gifts including compact discs, lunch tickets,
and a small stereo system, which were do¬
nated to the station by appreciative businesses,
Foster said.
In addition, KPCC also added 1 ,988 listen¬
ers as its new members during the event while
l,470others renewed their memberships. For
a $30 yearly membership fee, listeners re¬
ceived program guides, benefit from mem-
bers-only ticket giveaways, and gained the
privilege of attending KPCC events.
Foster added that the station gave $ 1 50,000
worth of concert tickets to its members last
year. In promoting upcoming events during
the November pledge drive, KPCC almost
sold out its end-of-the-year Blues Review
event, which includes dinner and blues show
for $65 a couple.
Please see KPCC, Page 4
SELFA SMITHART/ THE COURIER
From left: Marjorie Strong-Faulkner, Mary Weaver, Dr. William Goldmann, Laura Diederich, Dr. James Crayton, and Ann
Reynold at the ceremony. CSC staff and students collected $800 and donated to local organizations.
CSC donations make an impact
By JAMES WHALLEY
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Students, faculty, and staff at
PCC’s Community Skills Cen¬
ter (CSC) reached into their
pockets and their hearts to make
Thanksgiving brighter for cli¬
ents of local social service agen¬
cies this year. A committee led
by students and Marjorie
Strong-Faulkner, instructor of
business technologies, raised
$800 and distributed $200toeach
of four community service or¬
ganizations last week.
“This is a great time of the
year for many of us, but not so
great for many others,” Strong-
Faulkner said.
Students Kinda Masalmeth,
Fariba Yengejeh, and Rebecca
Chen worked together to de¬
sign a turkey which was circu¬
lated through the building, vis¬
iting classes and offices to col¬
lect cash donations for the
project. Strong-Faulkner added
“We kept the turkey busy go¬
ing from classroom to classroom.
Any time you looked around at
CSC during the last month, you
probably saw someone carting
him around for more donations.”
Recipients of theCSC’s gen¬
erosity were Catalina House, a
home for emancipated youths
attending PCC, Union Station,
the well known Pasadena shel¬
ter for homeless people, and
Friends Outside, an organiza¬
tion which helps families main¬
tain ties with relatives in juve¬
nile hall or in state prisons. Dr.
William Goldmann, PCC dean
of educational services, ac-
Please see CSC, Page 3
Grant aids blind students
By JUDITH A. BEST
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Thanks to a $135,000 grant
from the H.N. and Frances C.
Berger Foundation, the PCC
Disabled Student Program and
Services (DSPS) will upgrade
its High Tech computer center
with larger monitors and two
scanners. These additions will
be capable of translating writ¬
ten text into sound, thus allow¬
ing blind students to study inde¬
pendently. With the grant the
school will also purchase a
“Juliette Braille” printer, ca¬
pable of printing in Braille, the
language that allows the blind to
read, and a “Dragon Dictate,” a
voice activated computer pro¬
gram.
“We believe these changes
will have a direct educational
benefit,” said Dr. Kent
Y amauchi, assistant dean of spe¬
cial services.
“People with disabilities will
also feel the psychological ben¬
efit to have ready access to
educational material through
technology, which will lead to a
greater sense of indepen¬
dence. They will be able to do
more for themselves.”
Diana Schoeman, a techni¬
cian in the High Tech lab, said
the school doesn’t currently
own a Braille printer, and the
only way blind students can
study is if someone reads to
them.
She added that, by using the
“Reading Edge,” a stand alone
scanner with voice synthesizer,
students will be able to translate
a page of text into a word pro¬
cessing format or into a cassette
tape.
“All this equipment will actu¬
ally change the way blind stu¬
dents learn, and it will give them
full access to the equipment in
the center,” Schoeman said.
She added that all monitors in
the High Tech center will be
changed with larger, easy to
read 17 inch monitors.
While one “Reading Edge”
scanner will be set up in the
High Tech center, the other
will be placed in the Shatford
Library, so students won’t be
limited to DSPS hours.
Two adjustable tables will
also be a part of the grant which
will provide access to the com¬
puters to students confined to
wheelchairs.
Dr. Grover Goyne, dean of
institutional advancement and
also executive director of the
PCC Foundation, said the
Berger Foundation has been
the most generous supporter of
PCC in the history of the col¬
lege, donating, among other
things, $1 00,000 to the Shatford
Library and $200,000 for a
Macintosh computer lab.
“We are very excited and
very grateful to the Berger
Foundation for this grant,”
Goyne said, adding that the
money will allow the school to
shift the focus of the High Tech
center from the current situa¬
tion, which is primarily helping
students with learning disabili¬
ties, to also helping those with
physical disabilities.
There are currently 1 20 stu¬
dents who use the DSPS labo¬
ratory. The new equipment has
been ordered, and will be fully
operating by Fall ’95.
Also instrumental in getting
the grant were Dr. Bob Cody,
assistant dean of instructional
computer center, Julie Slagle,
instructional computing special¬
ist, and Emy Lu Weller, learn¬
ing disabled specialist.
