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Soccer Playoffs
•««Г"
Men fall to Cerritos in
the third
round.
. Check it out on Page 12
Pasadena City College
Volume 98, Issue 13
“ The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915:
Thursday, December 4, 2008
>
Softball Players Give Back
Daniel Lottes
/
Courier
PCC softball players Jassel Arellano (left) and Elyse Alvarez roam the streets of downtown Los Angeles,
passing out food and hygiene bags to the homeless on Thanksgiving morning.
Page
10»
Effect of Enrollment Caps Unclear
Nicholas Smith
Contributing Writer
The California State Universities
announced enrollment caps for the
2009-2010 school year, but PCC
officials told transfer students not to
worry.
Cynthia Olivo, the associate dean
of counseling at PCC, said, "It is too
soon to tell how this is going to
affect transferring students."
What is unsure about the enroll¬
ment caps is which students will be
turned away.
CSU has promised to allow
admission for all first-time CSU eli¬
gible freshmen and all upper-divi¬
sion transfer students who live in
proximity to each college.
Additionally, undergraduate stu¬
dents already enrolled will be given
fust consideration.
According to officials, the CSU
campus system, the nation's largest,
has 10,000 students currently
enrolled for whom the state doesn't
supply funding. Projections have
been made by the CSU that show
the next school year as still being
over enrolled by 10,000 students.
On November 19, CSU
Chancellor Charles B. Reed met
with the Board of Trustee
Committee on Finance to approve
the system's budget request to the
state. Among the cuts was the deci¬
sion proposed by Reed to cap enroll¬
ment at 450,000 students for 2009-
10, allowing no room in the budget
for enrollment growth.
The enrollment caps came after
state lawmakers addressed
California's $15.2 billion budget
deficit Reed said, "Because the state
is unable to provide the resources
needed to fully fund demand, we are
forced to make this difficult deci¬
sion. We cannot admit students if
we are unable to provide adequate
classes or instruction, support serv¬
ices or classroom facilities. We are
taking this step to ensure the aca¬
demic quality of the institution."
Tammie Leung, the assistant
director for the office of outreach
and recruitment for CSU Los
Angeles, warned that, "The impact
of the enrollment caps will be felt
more at the larger CSU schools such
as Long Beach and Cal Poly
Pomona." This is because these are
the most popular campuses, and
with the enrollment caps, they will
be forced to accept local students
first.
For those students who aren't
admitted to the school of their
dreams, Olivo said they still had
other opportunities. She suggested
to diversify where students apply
and also requested that students see
a counselor to update their educa¬
tional plan.
PCC offers classes beyond the
required 60 transfer credits that a
student can attend which will accu¬
mulate toward a student's major.
Both Leung and Olivo had advice
for transferring students. Leung
strongly urged students to apply as
early as possible.
Many of the campuses will be
closing their applications early this
year as one method to control
enrollment.
Olivo reminded students to be
proactive and to write their political
officials.
"They want to hear from students
and students would provide them
with the ammunition they need,"
she said.
President to
Sign Climate
Commitment
Allan Santiago
Opinion Editor
PCC President Paulette Perfumo
will sign the American College &
University Presidents Climate
Commitment, which has become
the threshold for over 600 colleges
nationwide to take part in a growing
movement toward sustainability, on
Tuesday at noon.
In what professor Ling O’Connor
has called the “conclusion of a year¬
long dialogue,” PCC is nearing its
first public display of committing to
a greener future.
The decision to sign the commit¬
ment came directly after a meeting
by the campus' Sustainability Task
Force, a shared governance group,
where it was voted unanimously to
recommend it to Perfumo.
The Task Force had met before to
address committing PCC toward a
greener future but was met with
resistance from within due to the
lack of interest from students, facul¬
ty and staff, according to O’Connor,
chair of the Task Force.
The most recent Sustainability
Task Force meeting saw an increase
in attendance and was what finally
convinced Task Force officials to opt
to recommend the Climate
Commitment to the president,
according to O'Connor.
O’Connor credits the "Leap Frog
into a Sustainable Future" Green
Summit held in Galloway Plaza on
Nov. 2 for the spike in attendance in
the meeting. “The majority [of
attendants] were students, actually,"
she said.
Up until the Task Force’s recom¬
mendation, one year and a day had
passed since the campus club Seeds
of Change and O’Connor con¬
vinced the Board of Trustees to
make PCC a member of the
Association for the Advancement of
Sustainability in Higher Education,
a consortium of schools and busi¬
nesses looking to become sustain¬
able.
The Presidents Climate
Commitment seemed like a natural
next step, but the idea sparked dia¬
logue among officials.
Continued on Page 2
Budget Cuts Focus
of Presidential Forum
Jacqueline Lok
Copy Editor
The recent state budget cuts
involving community colleges were
one of the biggest concerns among
students at the AS-sponsored presi¬
dential forum on Tuesday.
Students voiced their concerns to
PCC President Paulette Perfumo
over rumors of the cancellation of
winter and summer intersession in
the neighboring Citrus and Glendale
colleges amid the budget crisis, and
wanted to know if PCC would
undergo changes in the academic
calendar that would affect the inter¬
session.
“We’re not planning on canceling
intersession," said Perfumo.
Enrollment and tuition fees were
among the other important issues that
were addressed. Perfumo announced
that the new budget for 2009-10 will
be released on Jan. 10.
A returning veteran from Iraq
asked Perfumo to consider hosting a
forum dedicated to veterans who
sometimes find difficulty in adjust¬
ing back into the student life.
Perfumo appeared moved by the 36-
year-old veteran’s concern, bringing
up her own son’s experience in Iraq.
“Thank you, and thank you for
serving our country," said Perfumo,
followed by a round of applause.
Despite the brevity of the previ¬
ous topics, the discussion went on.
The price of textbooks was an issue
a student felt had to be addressed.
Continued on Page 3
Lancer Life:
Penny Pinching:
Tricks to save money
in the struggling
economy. Page
7»
Opinion:
Pornography: The
industry serves a useful
purpose for society.
Page
5»
News:
Hot Professor: Web
site names Schwyzer
“Hottest” in the
Country. Page
2»