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Softball
With a new field and
coach, the team looks to
improve this season.
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Pasadena City College
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Volume 102, Issue 13
"The Independent Student Voice of
РСС,
Serving Pasadena Since 1915.'
Thursday, December 9, 2010
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Clash over class cuts
divides students, officials
Natalie Sehn Weber
Staff Writer
More than 50 students and faculty
gathered in front of the C Building for a
sometimes heated discussion of PCC's
new budget on Tuesday afternoon.
Many students were upset over flyers
that claimed the new budget included
the elimination of 700 class sections
despite PCC having a reserve of almost
$20 million. Others flyers asserted that
the budget contained plans to spend $1
million on an iPhone app for campus
communication.
In addition to the budget details, the
flyers invited students to attend "The Big
Rally" on Tuesday afternoon.
Several students, President Mark
Rocha, head of the Faculty Association
Roger Marheine and Associated Students
Trustee Nolan Pack gave speeches about
their differing interpretations of the
budget information.
The sometimes hot-tempered moods
and opinions expressed by the speakers
seemed to set the tone for those who
stayed after the rally, including a shout¬
ing match between AS President Jamie
Hammond and Faculty Association
intern Victor Interiano.
The rally started off with a speech by
Marheine that chronicled the state and
federal cuts that have been made to edu¬
cation and likened the lessening access to
education to a civil rights issue.
Rocha followed Marheine and agreed
Anthony Richetts/Courier
Vlad Viski-Mestas, a political science major and rally participant, voiced his belief
Tuesday that class sections could be added using the college's reserves.
with his sentiment.
"I share your values on social justice,"
he said. "I've fought for it and we need to
come together... and ask our political
representatives, 'Go fight for more fund¬
ing in Sacramento for education.'"
In a voice that grew more and more
stern as he spoke, Rocha addressed the
budget claims on the rally's flyers.
"Since I've come in, we've added 70
sections to the current schedule," he said.
"We budgeted extra money for more
classes this year [in the amount of] $1
million. That's a matter of public record."
Additionally, Rocha said, "The budget
has not been cut. This year it's $139 mil¬
lion, last year it was $132 million."
Student Vlad Viski-Mestas spoke after
Rocha.
He said he had attended a meeting last
week where President Rocha presented
his plan for PCC.
"One of the main themes of his presen¬
tation was the fact that the school needs
to cut 700 classes. I [saw] the presenta¬
tion with my own eyes," said Viski-mes-
tas.
Viski-Mestas claimed PCC's reserves
have increased over the past four years
from $14.5 million to $19.8 million.
Speaking next, AS Trustee Nolan Pack
had praise for the students' activism.
Continued on page 2
Concerns
over cuts
aired at
meeting
Officials clarify stance on classes
Janine Shimomura
Editor-in-Chief
Administrators attempted to allay the fears of 700
classes being cut for the Spring semester at an open
meeting on Tuesday.
President Mark Rocha facilitated the meeting,
which was proposed by student protestors. There
were over 20 students in attendance in the president's
conference room alongside key members of the man¬
agement staff of the college.
The meeting focused on addressing the concerns
voiced at a rally held earlier in the day where protes¬
tors demanded 100 sections be added to the schedule
of classes for the Winter intersession and raised the
claim of the widespread cuts.
Associate Dean of Enrollment Management Sabah
Alquaddoomi assured students that the claim was
false, but it could be a possible situation depending
on state funding.
"We are bringing the issue to the surface," said
Alquaddoomi.
"Sections have not been cut, period. If the college
has to cut, the Enrollment Management Committee
would evaluate," said Rocha citing the unreliability of
state funding.
Rocha does not believe a mid-year state budget cut
would impact the sections drastically.
"My opinion is that if the mid-year budget cut in
January is not steep that we can make savings in
many areas and this will greatly reduce the impact on
sections. The committees have time to deliberate on
this next semester," said Rocha in an email.
Continued on page 2
New add policy is well received by students and faculty
Natalie Sehn Weber
Staff Writer
A new policy of allowing students to add
themselves to longer, no-cost wait lists, which
began with spring registration Monday, is
being met with enthusiasm by students and
faculty alike.
PCC's previous system allowed only three
students to be put to a wait list for a full class
and required them to pay for the course up
front. If they weren't added to the class, the
fee refund process was time-consuming.
The policy's purpose is to reduce the stu¬
dents' current habit of "crashing" a class on
its first day if they were unable to register for
it, said Edward Martinez, president of the
Academic Senate.
Education major Veronica Lanphere, 21,
said it was a good alternative. "People that
are already [registered] for the class [have to
physically make their way] around the people
that are trying to add it," said Lanphere
Lanphere felt the fact that students won't
have to pay for a class until they are officially
enrolled is also an improvement.
"If you're not guaranteed the class, why
should you have to pay for it?" asked
Lamphere.
Kevin Seng, also an education major,
wished the policy had been in place when he
first started at PCC. "My first year at PCC, I
had to crash every class I tried to get because
I couldn't get any of my classes on my regis¬
tration date," said Seng.
Seng had issue with many of the teachers
used a lottery method to choose which stu¬
dents could add their class. He felt it was
unfair that students who showed up early
had equal chance of being added as those
who arrived late.
Assistant English Professor Dustin Hanvey
was involved in the development of the new
policy at the Educational Policies Committee.
According to Hanvey there was initial resist¬
ance. The main concern was that students
would put themselves on the wait lists for all
sections of a specific class and take away
space from other students.
Hanvey said that problem was solved by
making the system allow a student to only be
on the wait list for one section of each class.
In the past, Hanvey had as many as 30
unregistered students waiting outside on the
first day of a class.
"I personally think it will make the first
week of the semester a lot smoother and will
allow [teachers] to get started with our mate¬
rial a lot quicker," he said.
Catch our winter issue:
The next issue of the Courier will
appear on stands January 27. For
breaking news visit pcccourier.com.
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Jazz:
Improvisation was on
display at the Jazz
Ensemble concert.
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