Serving PCC and the Pasadena community since 1915
Dec. 1, 2005
pcc-courieronline.com
Doo Dah
Parade
Page 12
Vol. 92, Issue 14
Rash of Campus
Thefts Unsolved
Carlos Ramirez
Staff Writer
A rash of thefts has plagued the
PCC campus within recent weeks,
and so far campus police have
turned up empty-handed. On a
campus where lockers are broken
into several times a week, students
may want to leave valuables in the
safety of their homes.
For the past semester the W
building has been the site for more
than a half a dozen locker thefts.
The suspect(s) have been entering
the shower room of the building
and prying the locking mechanisms
right off the lockers with a large flat
head screwdriver. The locking
mechanisms are made of a thick
type of aluminum and are not
secured very well to the front of the
lockers. This means a locker can be
broken into regardless of the quality
of the lock a student uses. Once the
mechanism has been broken, the
suspect(s) can simply lift the latch
and have access to any of your
belongings.
Items stolen have ranged from
high-priced camera equipment to
band instruments. Andrew
Harding, an automotive student
here at PCC, has even had his ciga¬
rettes stolen.
“I lit my cigarette, put the pack
down, reached for my bag to put the
pack away, and they were gone,”
Harding said. “I thought I was offi¬
cially crazy. What kind of sick per¬
son steals cigarettes?”
Even with scores of cadets and a
full staff of police officers, our cam¬
pus is still vulnerable to robberies.
Campus police have taken further
measures in response to the thefts
by having police cadets in plain
clothes stationed around the W
building. However, this maneuver
has not deterred thieves from steal¬
ing backpacks right off the football
field during daylight hours, nor has
it prevented the chronic bike thefts
on campus.
As a way to protect themselves
and their belongings, students are
advised to never leave property
unattended on campus. Large por¬
tions of the thefts that occur are due
to the fact that most students are not
cautious or street smart.
“You always got to believe that
there’s someone watching you on
campus," said Training Officer
Steven Matchan. Nine out of ten
thefts occur because the owner of
the property has left it unattended.
Another way to prevent theft of
your valuables is to simply leave
them at home. If you don’t use
them in class, chances are you don’t
need to bring them to school.
Esperanza Sanchez
/
Courier
Under Lock and Key: Many of the locker break-ins occur
in the W building.
Adjunct
Faculty
Want Paid
Conference
Hours
Gossard Resigns
William Hallstrom
/
Courier
Gossard Calls It Quits: After a 1-9 season and a controversy over his treatment
of Tom Maher, head football coach Dennis Gossard decided to resign from his
position. He will stay on as an instructor in the P.E. division. -Story on page 11
Board To Raise Funds for Measure
Dean Lee
Staff Writer
The board of trustees
approved a resolution on Nov. 18
to support fundraising goals for
the Community College Ballot
Measure set for the 2006
statewide general elections.
PCC has been asked by the
advocacy group Californians for
Community Colleges to raise
$50,000 by March 1, 2006. The
funds will be used to gather sig¬
natures needed to place the meas¬
ure on the ballot. Approximately
690,000 signatures are needed
statewide and will cost an esti¬
mated $2.5 million, according to
Californians for Community
Colleges.
"We are going to need the sup¬
port of the entire campus com¬
munity on this,” Jeanette Mann,
president of the board said.
Through a proposed constitu¬
tional amendment, the measure
would change the way communi¬
ty colleges are funded by separat¬
ing them from the funds used for
K-12 schools. This measure
would also lower the per unit fee
to $20 and guarantee community
college funding to better match
student enrollment.
Each of the community col¬
lege CEOs, in the state were
asked to personally donate $1,000
to the campaign and each local
board members was asked to con¬
tribute $500 towards the fundrais¬
ing goal.
"For what it’s worth, my
$1,000 is in the pot and 1 hope
you will all join me,” campus
president James Kossler said.
“We are working on a plan to find
other sources of revenue on cam¬
pus as well.”
Jennifer MacDonald
Staff Writer
It was once a common sight to
see an instructor bent over a car
trunk, briefcase on the ground,
assisting a student with a math prob¬
lem or looking over an English
paper.
Most part-time instructors took
time out to informally meet with stu¬
dents in any convenient place avail¬
able, like the parking lot, because
they did not have paid conference
hours like their full-time counter¬
parts.
But since unions like the
California Teacher’s Association
have stepped in to stop part-timers
from participating in unofficial stu¬
dent-teacher meetings and began
asking for paid conference hours, the
parking lot meetings have ceased.
“Teachers want to help students,”
said Preston Rose, a part-time
English instructor at PCC. “They
feel very bad telling students they
can't meet with them."
Rose is one of about 700 part-
time teachers at PCC, none of
whom are given paid conference
hours, during which students can
meet with instructors outside of
class.
“People who are having difficulty
or having a problem with their paper,
if you can talk to them for 15 to 20
minutes you can help them a great
deal,” Rose said. “So it’s very unfor¬
tunate we have to turn away our stu¬
dents.”
Instructors are turning students
away in an effort to stop the cycle of
spontaneous conferences in parking
lots and institute a way for part-
[see Part-Timer, PAGE 6]
A.S. Investigates Campus Safety
Rafael Delgado
/
Courier
Stepping Down: AS president Stephen Juarez, who shared
an office with Szamet, said he was a “man of reason.”
Student Trustee
Relinquishes Chair
Dean Lee
Staff Writer
Students voicing concerns over
safety on campus led the board of
trustees to ask for a formal report
on the subject. The report will be
conducted by the Associated
Students and given as a presenta¬
tion to the board on Dec. 7.
“We need to hear what the stu¬
dents are saying and what fears they
have that are not getting reported,”
said Geoffrey Baum, vice president
of the board. ’’Then we can ask
campus safety for recommenda¬
tions from the students input.”
This will be the first time a sur¬
vey on safety has been done at PCC
by the A.S., according to its mem¬
bers.
“I went through the filing cabi¬
net and found surveys done on food
Dean Lee
Staff Writer
“Journalism is dead,” writes a
blogger on the internet. “The
power of information is now in
the hands of the people and we
won’t give it back.”
Citizen journalism is the con¬
cept of ordinary people taking an
active role in the process of col¬
lecting, reporting, analyzing and
disseminating news and informa¬
tion.
Many people are spreading
this new form of journalism
through personal websites, usual-
and other student expenses, but not
safety," said Miffi Garcia, vice pres¬
ident for student services. “I asked
other members and they said there
was never one done that they had
seen."
Using input from its own mem¬
bers, the A.S. put together a survey
of nine questions to be handed out
to over 200 students in classes over
the next week.
“We have a good, diverse group
of people in the A.S.,” Garcia said.
“So we should be able to find out
what the students want. This actu¬
ally defines our positions as A.S.
members."
The questions on the survey
range from how well-lit students
think the campus is and how safe
they feel on campus at night to
whether having cadets around
makes the campus any safer.
“I have a lot of friends that say
ly one or two pages, that focus
specifically on one subject. These
type of websites are referred to as
blogs, which is a contraction of
web log.
The concept of bloggers tak¬
ing over traditional forms of
printed news is now becoming a
reality. Citizen journalists using
blogs reported all the details of
the tsunami that hit Southeast
Asia in 2004. Citizen journalists
also captured video footage dur¬
ing the London bombings in
September with personal cell
phone cameras. Within hours
the campus is way too dark, making
them feel unsafe," said Renata
Costa, the A.S. chief justice. “So I
added a question concerning it.”
Four of the questions ask for
specific input from students, such as
whether they feel their belongings
are safe on campus.
“This issue is about knowing
that your car or bike is going to be
there when you get out of class,”
Costa said. "We shouldn’t have
those butterflies that you get from
not knowing.”
At the meeting, trustee members
also discussed safety issues such as
the current rash of bike thefts on
our campus, backpacks being stolen
out of the library and a shooting at
a PCC basketball game last spring.
“All you have to do is read the
Courier because these situations are
well documented,” Nick Szamet,
the student trustee, said.
these images were posted on the
internet and seen by millions of
people all over the world.
“The shift in power is putting
more tools, more choices, more
media capacity overall in the
hands of the people formerly
known as the audience,” wrote
Jay Rosen, the author of the blog
PressThink. “The decline in
authority goes hand-in-hand
with that, since people who have
lots of choices don’t care to be
lectured to."
PressThink won the Reporters
Without Borders 2005 Freedom
Campus president James
Kossler added, “None of these
things are acceptable to any of us.
Over the years things go up and
down. This is a big city, but we need
to do what we can to make it safer.”
Members of the board also dis¬
cussed other ways in which PCC
could make students aware of safe¬
ty programs available to them, such
as “safety walks,” campus tours
given every year during “A Week
Without Violence" sponsored by
the Cross Cultural Center.
The campus also has a safety
escort service available at night for
students to get from class to the
parking structures. This should be
promoted more, according to
Kossler.
Blog award for outstanding
defense of free expression,
according to Poynteronline.
Citizen journalism has caught
the attention of big media outlets
like the New York Times and
MSNBC, which has fully
embraced it by creating a website
called the Citizen Journalists
Report. They ask people to send
stories, video and pictures to
CJ@MSNBC.com.
“Anything that gives people
the ability to voice their opinions
[see Citizen., PAGE 6]
Rafael Delgado
Chief Photographer
Starting Wednesday, the posi¬
tion of Student Trustee will no
longer be filled by Nick Szamet,
On this day, when the Board of
Trustees meet for the last time
this year, Szamet’s resignation
will take effect.
Trustees have come and go
from this position in the past.
The reason for Szamet’s depar¬
ture is simple; he has fulfilled his
educational goals here at PCC.
When Jan. 8 rolls around,
Szamet will attend his first day at
UC Santa Barbara for the winter
intersession. It is here that he
will continue his educational
goals as a history major.
“He has got a heart and great
integrity,” said Rebecca Cobb,
student activities advisor. “He is
definitely going to be missed
within the fabric of the campus.”
Although Szamet says he is
“sorry I have to leave PCC,” he
feels that the time has come. The
Student Trustee has completed
over 80 units here at PCC since
he graduated from Temple City
High School in 2003. However,
only 70 units will be accounted
for when he transfers.
When Szamet arrived at this
campus, his high school GPA
was at 2.5. Since attending PCC,
however, that GPA has risen to
3.8, and for that Szamet is grate¬
ful.
“I thank PCC for its opportu-
[see Trustee, PAG E 6]
Citizen Journalism Has Old-Style Press on Defense