OPINION
FEATURES
The giving should not stop just
because the holidays come to
an end.
Page 2
‘Sancho’ on the KPCC airwaves on
Saturday nights sends a ‘Stay in School’
message to Chicano youth
Page 7
Men’s basketball team wins
consolation championship at
Moorpark tournament
Page 8
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 77 No. 15
™E COURIER
Serving the PCC Community for 75 years
THURSDAY
DECEMBER 9, 1993
Report on colleges draws criticism
‘It’s not nearly innovative enough
to say that we can handle quality
education in the colleges looking
to the 21st century.”
Jane Hallinger, president of the Faculty
Association of the California Community Colleges
□ Study suggesting
radical changes in
the two-year schools
is not innovative
enough, say some
faculty members.
By ALFREDO SANTANA
Editor in Chief
The highly publicized report by a
state commission that suggests
sweeping changes for the California
community colleges’ academic set¬
ting sparked a wave of harsh criti¬
cism from prominent faculty mem¬
bers who branded the plan as un¬
workable. They also complained the
study lacks faculty input.
In essence, the conclusion of a
20-member panel appointed by the
Community College Board of Gov¬
ernors focused on how much money
the system would save if television-
taught classes, interactive computer
centers and financial reforms to
spend money more wisely would be
adopted.
“It’s not nearly innovative
enough to say that we can handle
quality education in the colleges
looking to the 21st century,” said
Jane Hallinger, president of the Fac¬
ulty Association of the California
Community Colleges, a group with
more than 6,000 affiliates statewide.
“I think there are issues in the report
we can work on piece by piece.”
Hallinger also lashed out at the
Commission of Innovation , the group
she said drafted the report with small
recommendations from faculty or¬
ganizations that belong to the two-
year colleges. Although the com¬
mission received information from
three task forces of community col¬
lege faculty, administratorsand trust¬
ees, she said the faculty’s proposals
were barely incorporated.
“We have to have the autonomy
to develop our academic programs,”
said Hallinger, who also teaches
English at PCC. “Almost every sug¬
gestion in the report was written
without faculty input.”
Others see no tangible way to
improve the cash-strapped colleges
which have had to turn away ap¬
proximately 200,000 students in the
last year. Most of the institutions are
struggling with archaic equipment
and facilities.
“There has to be a parallel plan to
deal with today,” Dianne Van Hook,
superintendent of the Santa Clarita
Community College District told
the Los Angeles Times. She is also a
leader of a statewide group of com¬
munity college executives.
The fact the report has been the
target of widespread criticism by
faculty members makes the study a
real controversial one, and many
ponder whether its goals are realis¬
tic.
“We have to see how the legisla¬
ture deals with it,” said Dr. Jack
Scott, superintendent-president. “It’s
a report that initiates discussion. It’s
a catalyst for discussion.”
Meanwhile, Nancy Ackley,
spokeswoman for David Mertes,
chancellor of the state community
colleges, said the bottom line of the
report is to suggest guidelines to
follow to do a better job without
relying on more funding.
“The commission’s approach is
to say how colleges can do more with
less,” Ackley stated.
The 136-page report that was
released last October, makes recom¬
mendations to the 107 community
colleges across the state that zero in
on the need to overhaul some of the
traditional ways of teaching classes.
The report calls for the building of
high-tech computer centers in hopes
that by the year 2,005, about 20
percent of the courses offered would
be through these labs. In addition,
classes between 2 and 5 p.m. should
be condpcted at all colleges. They
ideally would boost the number of
students by about 27 percent.
The original draft recommended
that the colleges should devise a plan
with local high schools to place En-
glish-as-a-Second Language (ESL)
adult students in specially supported
“community academies.” However,
the plan was scratched off the final
version amid complaints the plan
would create a dumping ground for
poor and minority students.
Without changes that would also
include a new system of standard¬
ized testing to determine if students
are getting the concepts, the report
indicates that, expenditures for the
1993-94 school year may climb to
S4.8 billion by the year 2005 from
the current S3.6 billion. The report
also suggests a system of collective
bargaining for community colleges
employees statewide.
Please see REPORT, Page 8
The parade bleachers are up
ANITA NARDINE/THE COURIER
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Seats for the 1 05th Tournament of Roses Parade are now being set up in front of the college along
Colorado Boulevard. The parade, held on New Year's Day, draws millions of people into Pasadena.
College to begin book
buy back next week
□ Bookstore braces
for semester-end
book buy back
frenzy. College to set
a tent in the Quad to
serve the students.
By REGINA PARIS
Staff Writer
It may look like a circus next
Monday when a big tent is set up in
the Quad, but don ’t expect any lions,
tigers or bears. And the only clowns
there will be the students, who will
have to accept half or even nothing
for last semester’s books.
The bookstore is setting up the
tent to handle the rush of students
who try to sell back their books
during the last week of school. “Stu¬
dents will have a chance to get back
up to 55 percent for their books,”
said Kay Lee, head cashier at the
PCC bookstore.
The book buy back will begin on
Dec. 13 and continue through Dec.
21. The amount students get back
will depend on the bookstore’s need
for that book.
“There is a certain number of
each book we must have in stock for
the spring semester,” Lee said.
Some books may only be worth
10 percent of the listed value if the
store already has enough on hand.
“You’ll only get wholesale value
[10 percent] because we have no
need for them, possibly because the
course has been discontinued. Those
books will be bought back, boxed
and shipped to other colleges that
need that type of book,” she added.
Students who own books that
have been printed in a new edition
are out of luck. They have no value
to the bookstore, and therefore, they
won’t be bought back.
To sell books back, students must
bring a PCC ID card or a driver’s
license and a print-out of classes. A
list of the books the bookstore plans
to buy back at top dollar will be
posted outside of the bookstore Mon¬
day morning.
Students can also sell back their
books inside of the bookstore. Hours
of the book buy back will be Mon¬
day through Thursday from 7:45
a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Financial Aid office to
mail money to students
Federal government gives
students billions in aid
The federal government provides billions of dollars in financial
aid to students attending public and private colleges and
universities each year. Although funding to cover tuition and
other education-related expenses increased each year from
1988 to 1991 , funding decreased slightly in 1992.
Money available to students
(in billions)
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Source: College Board, U.S. Department of Education.
ALFREDO SANTANA
/
THE COURIER
□ But checks for
those in debt with
the school or library
won’t be sent out.
By GUADALUPE BERGIN
Staff Writer
For the first time in the spring
semester, the Financial Aid Office
will mail checks to students receiv¬
ing financial aid. In the past, students
had to pick up checks at the Student
Bank.
But the office will hold checks of
students who owe money to the
school, including library fines, or
child care center fees, said Karla
Henderson, assistant dean of finan¬
cial aid. “It will cut lines at the
Student Bank and at this office where
students sometimes have to wait for
two hours,” Henderson added.
The new measure will assure stu¬
dents they will get their checks on
time. “We want students to get their
checks at the beginning of the se¬
mester,” Henderson said, “because
we know it is the time when they
have to buy their books.”
Henderson warned students to fill
out the financial aid application cor¬
rectly and “spell out the complete
name of Pasadena City College and
give the full address.” The acronym
“PCC” may also be the acronym for
Portland Community College, Pa¬
cific Coast College, or the other Pasa¬
dena Community College in Florida.
Portland gets a lot of applications
intended for Pasadena City College,
Henderson said.
Last year S20,000 in grants were
canceled by the office because stu¬
dents forgot to pick them up, or they
had moved and did not report the
new address, Henderson said.
One of the requirements to be
eligible for the grants are among
others, to be a recipient of Aid for
Families with Dependent Children,
social security, veterans benefits,
general relief or have a low income.
Although applications for finan¬
cial aid for the 1994-95 school year
will not be ready until Jan. 1, a
student still has to wait three to four
weeks to get back the Student Aid
Report (SAR) from the Department
of Education in Iowa first, and then
turn it in to the financial aid office.
The Department of Education estab¬
lishes its deadlines which vary de¬
pending on the kind of grant, but
since it takes some time to do the
paper work, it is advisable for appli¬
cants to follow the financial aid
office’s own deadlines.
College earns money in ticket sales
By RAY ARMENDARIZ
Staff writer
For three years in a row, the Com¬
munity Education Office has been
selling tickets to the Tournament of
Roses Parade to raise money for the
program in PCC.
The self-supporting program pro¬
vides non-credi t courses for comm u-
nity members of all ages.
For the program to exist, fees are
charged to cover the rental of class¬
rooms on and off campus, telephone
bills, employee salariesand all fringe
benefits, said Nino Valmassoi, as¬
sociate dean of community educa¬
tion.
As of yesterday, sales of tickets
stopped, but some still might be
available if there is a demand,
Valmassoi said. “However, it can¬
not be guaranteed.” Tickets were sold
for S58 per seat to students, staff and
the general public. Around 140 tick¬
ets have been sold out of 200. The
remaining tickets will be returned to
Sharp Seating Company.
As part of the package, a conti¬
nental breakfast and hot lunch will be
provided in the Circadian dining
room, and parking will be available
in a reserved area on campus for S 1 0.